Court Blocks ICE’s Unrestricted Arrests in Manhattan Immigration Courts

It began soon after Trump took office in January of 2025. People showing up for their routine, mandatory check-ins at 26 Federal Plaza and other Manhattan immigration courts began to disappear.

Newly emboldened Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents lurked in courtrooms and hallways with their faces covered and weapons visible, waiting to snatch immigrants who had followed all the rules and done everything asked of them in their search for a legal pathway to remain in the U.S. Oftentimes, after a judge scheduled a future court date in an immigrant’s case, agents abducted them before they reached the elevator.

Officers callously ripped families apart and assaulted immigrants and others in their path. An agent threw one woman to the ground in front of her young children after she begged for information about her husband, who ICE had just detained. On another occasion, agents shoved journalists documenting their unlawful acts, sending one reporter to the hospital.

ICE swept up two teenagers in this subversion of justice. Agents detained Dylan, a 16-year-old Bronx high school student, when he showed up to his routine court date. ICE also targeted and detained Oliver Mata Velasquez, a 19-year-old living in Buffalo. The NYCLU filed a lawsuit challenging Oliver’s unlawful arrest and secured his release.

Prior to Trump’s second term, immigration courts were not regularly the site of such violence and terror. Agents generally avoided making arrests at courthouses on the grounds that doing so would discourage people from showing up for their court appointments. Now, many people face an impossible choice: arrive at court and risk ICE arresting and detaining them, or give up on a path to remaining in the country legally.

On May 18, the NYCLU and our partners secured a court ruling temporarily blocking courthouse arrests, putting an end to this nightmare for people who need to attend check-ins at Manhattan’s immigration courts.

Our Lawsuit and the Road to Victory

On August 1, 2025, we sued ICE, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, over its cruel courthouse arrest policy on behalf of The Door and African Communities Together, two organizations that serve immigrant communities. We believe ICE’s targeting of people showing up for their immigration court appointments turned these courts into traps, making it nearly impossible for people to pursue legal pathways to stay in America.

Soon after, we asked the court to temporarily block courthouse arrests while the lawsuit played out. The Court partly denied this request in September 2025, finding a 2025 memorandum justified the change in policy. The arrests continued.

But in a shocking revelation in March, the government admitted to the judge that the 2025 memorandum it used to justify its immigration court arrests in fact “does not and has never” authorized these arrests.

We immediately asked the court to reconsider its decision, and this time the judge granted the stay. In his ruling, Judge Castel writes that reconsideration of the request for a stay was needed “both to correct a clear error and prevent a manifest injustice.”

ICE agents must now abide by guidance in a 2021 memorandum issued under President Biden that restricts courthouse arrests to very limited circumstances. The stay applies to all federal immigration courts located in Manhattan including 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway.

This ruling means that immigrants, who have always been the backbone of New York City, can now attend their routine, mandatory court appointments without fear that ICE will tear them from their families and communities.

Our courts should be sites of justice, not terror. Every person is entitled to due process, and this stay will ensure that right for immigrant New Yorkers while our lawsuit moves forward.