A federal judge in New York has banned US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting immigrants in or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan, where aggressive operations had resulted in ICE officers lining the hallways of 26 Federal Plaza and other Immigration Courts since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency. This stems from a 2025 lawsuit filed by lawsuit brought on behalf of African Communities Together and The Door by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road NY, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward Maazel LLP.
Officers were waiting for immigrants to show up to their scheduled immigration hearing in order to follow the legal process in place for immigrants, then would arrest them when they arrived. This forced thousands of immigrants to feel like they had no choice but to skip their hearing and get ordered removed in absentia since appearing for their court hearing guaranteed their arrest.
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel issued the 15-page order blocking the Trump administration’s enforcement practices at 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway (the three immigration courts serving the NYC and Long Island area) except under exceptional circumstances. The Judge’s decision was made, in part, because the Government admitted to misleading the Court by citing to a non-existent memorandum as granting them the authority to operate in Courts.
The Judge acknowledged a strong governmental interest in enforcing immigration laws but wrote that individuals must be allowed to attend removal proceedings and pursue asylum claims without fear of arrest. The Judge noted that federal agents retain the authority to detain individuals away from immigration courts and that they may make arrests inside courthouses only if there is a serious threat to public safety, national security, imminent violence, hot pursuit, or a threat to criminal evidence.
According to a new report published by a reputed US thinkthank, more than 145,000 US citizen children have experienced a parent being detained by immigration authorities since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency. The study further found that of those children, more than 22,000 experienced the detention of all of their co-resident parents. In total they have detained over 400,000 people and there are on average over 60,000 immigrants in detention on any given day, which is more than double the number that are normally in immigration detention most days on average for decades prior to Trump.
A ProPublica study following ICE arrests of mothers of U.S. citizen children over the first seven months of the administration found that 60% had been removed and 17% remained in custody at the study’s conclusion.
These statistics are beyond disturbing. People nee dot keep fighting this. This shouldn’t be a surprise when the Department of Homeland Security is bragging on twitter about how the Trump administration managed to reduce the asylum grant rate so significantly and quickly. They are most proud of the fact that asylum grants went from 52% to under 7% nationwide.
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), the most detailed and accurate source for data on Immigration Removal Proceedings, in 2026, only 1.83% of new cases sought deportation of an immigrant alleged to have committed a crime.
If you have a parent in immigration custody and need assistance locating them and getting in contact with them, we are happy to help you with that process at no charge. Contact us using this form or email us at jbc@jbclawoffice.com.
