DOJ admits ICE courthouse arrests relied on erroneous information : NPR
A man from Venezuela is arrested by masked federal agents after his immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on January 28, 2026 in New York.
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Justice Department lawyers admitted this week to using false information to defend arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at immigration courthouses.
In a letter Tuesday To U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel of New York City, the DOJ admitted that a 2025 ICE memo cited in court to defend the agency’s courthouse arrests did not apply to immigration courts.
The DOJ filed the letter as part of a lawsuit filed by New York-based immigrant advocacy organizations African Communities Together and The Door.
The memoissued in May 2025, states that ICE agents may conduct “civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe that the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location.”
But the DOJ said in its letter that the memo “does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions in or near” immigration courts.
Hundreds of migrants have been arrested in immigration courts as part of President Trump’s aggressive crackdown on illegal and legal immigration.
“We deeply regret this error,” reads the DOJ letter, which also accuses ICE of being responsible for this error. According to Justice Department attorneys, they were specifically “informed by ICE that the ICE 2025 Guidelines applied to arrests at immigration courthouses.” Additionally, we discussed and obtained approval from ICE’s designated attorney before filing each brief in this case and making oral representations to the court and plaintiffs.
The ACLU of New York, which represents the plaintiffs, said in a letter filed with the court that “the implications of this development are far-reaching.” The letter says that for months the government used the guidelines outlined in the memo to arrest legal and undocumented immigrants, often leading to detention “in facilities hundreds of miles away.”
The DOJ’s admission is “yet another example of ICE’s blatant disregard for the lives of immigrants in this country,” Amy Belsher, director of immigrant rights litigation at the ACLU of New York, wrote in a statement to NPR.
DOJ lawyers told Judge Castel that they sent a letter to ICE agents reminding them of the correct information and policy.
However, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said there was no change in policy. “We will continue to arrest illegal aliens in immigration courts following their proceedings,” DHS wrote in a statement to NPR. “Nothing prohibits arresting an offender where you find them,” the statement said.
Judge Castel has not responded to the latest developments and it is unclear what impact this admission will have on immigrants detained under the policy, many of whom have likely already been deported.
