Judge blocks Trump administration policies on immigration arrests at courts

A federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction against key Trump administration immigration enforcement policies, dealing a significant blow to the former president's approach to border security. U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts in California ruled that policies allowing arrests at immigration courts and eliminating caps on immigration detention times were unlawful.

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ICE is not arresting individuals who appear for criminal or civil violations 'unrelated' to the arrest but instead arresting noncitizens based on the very immigration offenses for which the noncitizens are appearing in immigration court.

In a 71-page opinion, Judge Pitts found the policies to be arbitrary and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. He stated that attorneys for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review "failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions." The practice of making arrests at immigration courts, which began under the Trump administration, had drawn sharp criticism from community leaders and lawmakers who argued it traumatized immigrant communities.

Pitts specifically addressed the policy allowing arrests at immigration courts, noting that ICE was arresting individuals based on the very immigration offenses for which they were appearing. He deemed this approach "based on a false premise" and lacking a rational explanation for removing previous guidance. The detention waiver, which permitted ICE to hold individuals beyond 12 hours, was also struck down for violating Fifth Amendment rights due to "punitive conditions of confinement."

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The policy, Pitts said, is "based on a false premise" that ICE had properly rescinded past guidance on arrests at immigration courthouses from 2021, and "fails to provide a rational explanation" for its removal of previous limits on civil enforcement actions at immigration courts.

While the Department of Homeland Security's general counsel criticized the ruling as "naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda," the decision represents a significant legal victory for immigrant rights advocates. The injunction halts these controversial practices nationwide, pending further legal developments.

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When a judge sentences a defendant, the defendant is taken into custody. If an alien is ordered removed by an immigration judge, the same should happen. A district judge ordering otherwise is naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda.