Federal agents forbidden by judge from arresting immigrants at court hearings

The United States government is now forbidden from arresting immigrants at immigration courthouses, a federal judge has ruled — a decision touted by civil rights groups as a major victory in their efforts to curb President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign.

U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel issued the ruling Wednesday in Manhattan, writing that the "ICE Courthouse Arrest policy" is "arbitrary and capricious." The ruling affects immigration courts nationwide.

Since Trump took office in January 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have descended on immigration courthouses, including at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, and arrested immigrants as they walked out of hearings.

The practice has led to numerous dramatic scenes of immigrants being pulled away from loved ones, and sometimes physical altercations with agents.

"Today’s ruling is an enormous win for every noncitizen seeking to safely attend their immigration court proceedings," Amy Belsher, director of immigrants’ rights litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement Thursday.

"For too long, we watched masked, often armed, ICE officers ambush noncitizens in courthouse hallways, throw immigrants to the ground, and tear sobbing children from their parents," said Belsher, whose group was among those that filed the initial lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "But with today’s order, the Court made clear: ICE’s cruel, unjustified policy of conducting mass immigration arrests in courthouses is unlawful and cannot stand."

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Top officials at DHS previously said the arrests were a quick way to deport millions of migrants who have crossed the border illegally. Making the arrests in the more controlled environment of a courthouse is more efficient than dispatching teams of agents to communities to find immigrants and involves less risk for the officers and the public, they have said.

Newsday has profiled several immigrants who were arrested after appearing for hearings in immigration courts or offices. They include Jose and Josue Trejo Lopez, two brothers originally from El Salvador who were living in Central Islip, and Nuvia Yessenia Martinez Ventura, a mother of five from Brentwood.

"These people just, like, took me away from my family, just in a matter of seconds," Josue told Newsday in June in a Zoom interview from El Salvador, where the federal government deported him and his brother. His family had fled gang threats in El Salvador years ago.

Castel’s ruling could be appealed and ultimately reach the Supreme Court, though that likely would not happen until next year, said Patrick Young, a professor of immigration law at Hofstra University's law school.

Young said he has been practicing immigration law "for over 40 years, and I used to go into court four to five days a week and I have never seen ICE carry out this type of procedure."

"It’s disgraceful" and is "terrifying immigrant communities," he said. The practice was making immigrants fearful of showing up for immigration hearings in which they can exercise their right for an independent judge to hear their case, he said.