A federal judge has blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting illegal immigrants at courthouses, ruling the agency bypassed required procedures when it adopted the policy earlier this year. The nationwide injunction halts what had become one of the Trump administration’s most visible enforcement tactics.
U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts, appointed by President Biden, issued a 71-page ruling Tuesday finding that ICE and the Justice Department failed to provide any reasoned justification for ending longstanding protections against courthouse arrests. The agencies never explained why they changed course or considered how the policy would affect court operations.
“For 80 years, Congress has commanded federal agencies to think before they act,” Pitts wrote. “It is now clear that the lack of connection between ICE’s stated rationales for the 2025 courthouse-arrest policies and the expansion of arrests at immigration courthouses results not from merely unreasoned decision-making but a complete lack of decision-making.”
What the Administrative Procedure Act Requires
The Administrative Procedure Act requires federal agencies to provide sound reasoning when adopting new policies, especially those reversing long-established practices. For decades, ICE generally avoided arrests at courthouses to prevent immigrants from skipping hearings out of fear. The agency shifted course this year without publishing proposed rules or soliciting public comment.
Pitts found the government’s explanations contradictory and unsupported. Officials claimed courthouse arrests served public safety but couldn’t explain how arresting people at immigration court hearings—where no crimes are alleged—advanced that goal.
Impact on Immigration Court System
The ruling affects courthouses nationwide where ICE had resumed arrests after years of restraint. Immigration attorneys reported clients too frightened to attend mandatory hearings, leading to automatic deportation orders. Court administrators complained the arrests disrupted proceedings and created security concerns.
Nisha Kashyap of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco, representing the plaintiffs, called the decision “tremendously significant.” The Justice Department has not announced whether it will appeal or attempt to reissue the policy following proper administrative procedures.
The case illustrates how procedural requirements can constrain executive power regardless of party. The same law has blocked policies from both Republican and Democratic administrations when agencies skip the rulemaking process.
Key Points
- Biden-appointed judge blocked ICE from arresting immigrants at courthouses nationwide, citing lack of proper rulemaking
- Court found agency provided no reasoned explanation for reversing decades of policy avoiding courthouse enforcement
- Ruling shows Administrative Procedure Act constrains executive power when agencies bypass required justification process
https://www.courthousenews.com/federal-judge-rules-ice-cant-make-arrests-at-immigration-courthouses/ – June 24, 2026
