Judge rules against ICE arrests at immigration courts

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could not arrest aliens in the United States at immigration courthouses. For at least a decade before President Donald Trump took office, ICE had a policy of not letting its officers arrest immigrants at immigration courthouses, the judge said in his ruling. After Trump took office, the agency seemed to permit its officers to conduct such arrests. But, ICE did not change its policies the way it should have, the judge ruled.

How did this case come before the court? After Trump took office and ICE changed its courthouse arrest policies, federal agents began increasing their arrests at immigration court locations. Several plaintiffs sued after being arrested and detained at immigration court. The judge found that ICE implemented its new courthouse arrest policy in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

The judge noted that the government acknowledged in a separate legal case earlier this year that ICE’s latest policies didn’t actually authorize agents to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses. But the judge wrote that government attorneys told him that while agents weren’t authorized to conduct arrests at immigration courts, any previous guidance prohibiting them from doing so had been rescinded as of last year.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how the U.S. Supreme Court is set to rule next term on ICE’s mandatory detention policy for illegal immigrants the government is seeking to deport.