DOJ admits that ICE lied about its power to arrest inside immigration courts.

In the past one year, hundreds of people were arrested when they went to immigration courts in regards to the legal asylum cases or citizenship cases. Turns out that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement was lying about having the authority to arrest at immigration courts, a court filing reveals. In a court filing on Tuesday, Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Oestericher of the Southern District of New York revealed that a memo the government had relied on to support the arrest of hundreds of immigrants appearing at immigration courts “does not and has never authorized” civil immigration enforcement actions at those courts.This stemmed from a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union and various other civil rights groups, challenging the government’s practice of dismissing asylum and citizenship cases and snatching law-abiding immigrants en masse at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City, as well as other immigration courts across the country.The prosecutor wrote that the government would withdraw several briefs that had relied on the memo, as well as certain statements made in oral arguments in federal court in September. Oestreicher wrote that a previous order from US District Judge P Kevin Castel would likely need to be “reconsidered and re-briefed.” In September, Castel ruled that ICE could make arrests in courthouses and also made it harder for judges to dismiss cases.

ICE’s mistake, not DOJ’s

Oestericher claimed that the mistake came from ICE, not the Department of Justice. “The undersigned were specifically informed by ICE that the 2025 ICE Guidance applied to immigration courthouse arrests. In addition, we discussed with and obtained the approval of assigned ICE counsel before filing every brief in this case and making any oral representations to the Court and Plaintiffs,” Oestericher wrote.

‘This is genuinely a bombshell’

Former New York City comptroller Brad Lander, who was detained by ICE in June during his campaign for New York City mayor, while attempting to escort an immigrant out of a courthouse in lower Manhattan, said this revelation in a bombshell. “According to documents filed this morning by the US Attorney for the Southern District of NY, ICE has been lying for a year—not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors—about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts,” Lander wrote on X Wednesday. “This is genuinely a bombshell. All courthouse arrests should cease immediately. There should be a Congressional investigation & civil rights actions for every illegal abduction of immigrants trying to follow the rules and appear in court.”