A Manhattan federal judge has largely blocked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from arresting people in three New York City immigration courts, after government attorneys admitted they had misled the court about the agency’s arrest policy.
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York found that the immigration advocacy groups challenging the arrests would likely prove the policy was arbitrary and capricious. ICE “gave no explanation, rational or otherwise” for abandoning old agency limits on arrests at the immigration courts, the judge said.
The ruling undermines a controversial centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement in New York City.
The Admission
ICE had initially defended the arrests based on memos from January and May 2025. In September 2025, Castel allowed the immigration court arrests to continue while the case was litigated. At the time, the judge found ICE had offered a plausible explanation for the new policy.
But six months later, Department of Justice attorneys wrote to Castel “to correct a material mistaken statement of fact.” The lawyers admitted that despite being told by ICE until at least January 2026 that the May 2025 guidance applied to immigration courts, they had discovered the memo actually excludes the immigration courts.
After that “mea culpa letter,” Castel reexamined his initial ruling — and reversed course.
What the Ruling Means
Federal agents can no longer make arrests without exceptional circumstances in and around the three immigration courts in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. The judge noted agents can still detain individuals away from immigration courts, as well as in cases involving serious threats to public safety.
For months, people with immigration court cases had faced an impossible choice: show up and risk arrest, or skip the hearing and face deportation. The practice had been universally decried by immigration advocates, who argued it effectively denied people their day in court.
The Bottom Line
A Manhattan federal judge has blocked ICE from making arrests at New York City immigration courts after the Justice Department admitted it had misled the court about the agency’s arrest policy. The judge found ICE gave “no explanation” for abandoning limits on courthouse arrests. The ruling represents a significant setback for the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics in New York.
My Opinion
The government lied to a federal judge. Not once. Not accidentally. For six months, the Justice Department told the court that ICE’s arrest policy at immigration courts was based on a May 2025 memo. Then it admitted the memo did not apply to immigration courts at all. That is not a clerical error. That is a material misrepresentation. And it took a “mea culpa letter” from DOJ lawyers to correct it.
The judge was right to reverse course. He was also right to be furious. When the government misleads the court, it does not just violate a rule. It undermines the entire premise of the adversarial system. The judge cannot rule fairly if he is operating on false information. The public cannot trust the process if the government treats the courtroom like a public relations exercise.
