Federal Judge Blocks ICE Arrests In Immigration Courts

A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked the Trump administration from making arrests at immigration courts, citing a "chilling effect" on court attendance. On Tuesday (June 23), Judge P. Casey Pitts ruled that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy of detaining migrants in courthouse hallways must stop nationwide. This decision comes in response to a class-action lawsuit challenging the policy.

The ruling, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, highlights the failure of ICE and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide sound reasons for their courthouse-arrest policies. Judge Pitts found the policy to be an "irrational departure" from previous rules that limited such arrests to extreme circumstances, like threats to national security.

The lawsuit, supported by the National Immigrant Justice Center and other advocacy groups, argued that the policy violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The judge's decision vacates the policy, which had allowed ICE to arrest noncitizens at courthouses based on immigration offenses for which they were appearing in court.

The ruling also addresses the conditions of detention, finding ICE's practices "arbitrary and capricious." The Trump administration has the option to appeal the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Plaintiffs' attorney Nisha Kashyap called the ruling "tremendously significant," emphasizing that courthouses should not be hunting grounds for ICE. The government criticized the decision as "judicial activism" and is considering its next steps.