U.S. Judge Halts ICE Arrests in Immigration Courts

With this nationwide ruling, the judge has halted a particularly controversial aspect of President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation policy.

In the U.S., immigration courts handle, among other things, cases involving migrants whom the government seeks to deport. Last year, ICE agents began arresting migrants nationwide in the hallways of such courts—even before they had exhausted all legal remedies. Critics saw this as jeopardizing the proper conduct of proceedings and warned of traumatic effects on those affected.

The court document signed by the judge in the state of California stated, in explaining the decision, that the immigration agency ICE had changed course at the beginning of Trump’s second term. Newly issued guidelines addressed the benefits of arrests in courthouses for enforcing immigration laws, but did not address concerns about potential negative effects. The guidelines failed to provide “reasoned explanations” for the new practice.