ICE agents forbidden from making arrests at Immigration Courts!
ICE has been going after the “low hanging fruits” immigrants attending court hearings!
Los Angeles, Jun 23 (EFE).-
A federal judge in California expanded a ban on Tuesday, prohibiting agents from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from making arrests inside immigration courts nationwide. The ruling deals a significant blow to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy.
Judge P. Casey Pitts of the US District Court for the Northern District of California extended a nationwide order that previously blocked ICE officers and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) from waiting in hallways to detain immigrants who have just lost their cases.
“ICE and EOIR failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions, the Court concludes that each of the challenged policies is arbitrary and capricious in contravention of the APA (Administrative Procedure Act),” wrote the magistrate, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden (2021-2025).
The ruling also prohibits ICE from holding detainees in their registration facilities for prolonged periods.
As part of his mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration had rolled back restrictions on immigration arrests in so-called “sensitive locations” such as hospitals, religious centers, schools, and immigration courts, starting last year.
Images of arrests in immigration courts, marked by the tears and resistance of families and lawyers, have sparked a wave of criticism against the White House.
Furthermore, the tactic caused a drastic drop in court appearances, according to court records. In most cases, immigrants receive deportation orders in absentia for failing to attend hearings.
Pitts had issued a prohibition last December that applied only to the ICE jurisdiction in San Francisco, California, a region encompassing the northern and central parts of the state, due to an emergency Supreme Court ruling that limited judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions before considering the class-action nature of the lawsuits.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, criticized the judge’s decision in a post on X. “This is yet another example of partisan judges throwing sand in the gears of immigration enforcement.”
The Trump administration is expected to appeal the decision, and the legal battle may reach the Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservative judges. EFE
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