ICE told the Justice Department its courthouse arrest policy was legally covered.
ICE was wrong – and DOJ lawyers repeated that mistake in federal court for months.
Now a Manhattan judge used that admission to handcuff ICE at the very courthouses where illegal immigrants appear for removal proceedings.
How One Internal Mistake Flipped a Ruling
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel ruled Monday that ICE agents must stop conducting civil immigration arrests at several Manhattan immigration courthouses – reverting to Biden-era restrictions Trump had scrapped within 24 hours of taking office.
The ruling traces back to a single internal failure.
In March, DOJ lawyers wrote to Castel admitting they needed to "correct a material mistaken statement of fact" they had made defending Trump's courthouse enforcement policy.
The core of that mistake: DOJ had argued in court that a May 2025 ICE enforcement memo covered immigration courts. It doesn't. According to the DOJ letter, ICE's own attorneys told DOJ the memo applied – and DOJ filed briefs and made oral arguments to the court based on that assurance.
Castel had already ruled in the administration's favor, declining to halt the policy.
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That changed the moment DOJ corrected the record.
The judge said the admission justified revisiting his prior ruling to fix what he called a clear error and prevent a manifest injustice.
One wrong answer from ICE counsel to DOJ counsel. One ruling flipped.
The Courthouse Has Become a Legal Battlefield
The lawsuit was brought by immigrant advocacy groups who argued Trump's enforcement policy turned mandatory immigration hearings into arrest operations – migrants showing up for required court proceedings detained by ICE agents the moment they stepped out.
ICE agents did detain dozens of immigrants at the Federal Plaza courthouse in New York City on June 26, 2025, immediately following their legal proceedings.
Castel ruled the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in arguing the administration acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" when it rescinded the 2021 Biden-era restrictions without adequately explaining how the new guidance applied to immigration courts.
The ruling does not fully prohibit courthouse arrests.
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ICE may still act on national security threats, imminent violence, hot pursuit, or threats to criminal evidence.
But for everyone else – an illegal immigrant showing up to immigration court because the law requires it – ICE is now legally restrained from making a civil arrest at the exit.
DHS pushed back immediately: "There is no change in policy. We will continue to arrest illegal aliens at immigration courts following their proceedings. Nothing prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them."
That statement is correct.
Whether it holds in this district depends on what happens next in court.
A 30-Year War – and This Time the Wound Was Self-Inflicted
Every administration since Clinton has wrestled with where ICE can legally operate.
Obama formalized the restricted-areas framework in October 2011, officially barring enforcement at schools, churches, hospitals, and public demonstrations.
Biden expanded that list in 2021 to include immigration courts – effectively making removal proceedings a safe haven for people the government had legal authority to deport.
Trump reversed both on his first full day in office.
The Center for Immigration Studies noted at the time that Biden's version went further than any previous administration's policy in shielding illegal immigrants from arrest at the moments the government had the most legal leverage over them.
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Trump tore it up.
Then ICE's own internal lawyers handed plaintiffs the procedural ammunition to reassemble part of it.
The NYCLU's Amy Belsher called Monday's ruling "an enormous win for noncitizen New Yorkers seeking to safely attend their immigration court proceedings."
What Belsher is really saying: illegal immigrants in Manhattan can now appear at their own removal hearings knowing ICE cannot touch them on the way out.
That is the sanctuary city model applied to a federal building – handed to a federal judge by a federal agency's own mistake.
The DOJ says it deeply regrets the error.
The administration now needs to appeal the ruling, fix the underlying legal paperwork, or both – before other jurisdictions with activist judges waiting for an opening use this as the blueprint.
Sources:
- Bradford Betz, "Federal judge in New York ties Trump admin hands on arrests at immigration courts," Fox News, May 19, 2026.
- "Justice Department tells judge it incorrectly used ICE memo to justify immigration court arrests," CBS News, March 26, 2026.
- "Protected Areas and Courthouse Arrests," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ice.gov, February 2026.
- Naomi Jagoda, "History of the 'Sensitive Areas' Policies and What Is in Place Now," Center for Immigration Studies, March 7, 2025.
