Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3jX64ZhV4I
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A federal judge has blocked ICE from making civil immigration arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouses ICE officers are largely prohibited from conducting civil immigration enforcement actions in or near 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway as the case proceeds — NYCLU
For seven months, DOJ lawyers told Judge Kevin Castel, a George W. Bush appointee, that a May 2025 ICE memo authorized agents to arrest immigrants at their court hearings. Castel is a George W. Bush appointee who originally ruled in September 2025 that ICE had authority to make courthouse arrests based largely on a May 2025 guidance memo — Courthouse News Service
Castel relied on that argument in September when he declined to block the arrests. In September, Castel largely denied a motion from the groups challenging the courthouse arrests, relying in part on the May 2025 ICE memo — CBS News
Then in March, ICE sent an internal email to its own officers reminding them the memo, quote, does not apply to immigration courts. The government said in its filing that it became aware of the mistake when it received an email sent to ICE personnel as a reminder that the May 27, 2025, Guidance does not apply to Executive Office for Immigration Review courts, regardless of their location — NBC News
DOJ lawyers somehow ended up on that email chain, realized the government had been telling the judge the opposite for months, and had to walk into court and apologize for what they called a, quote, material mistaken statement of fact. The Justice Department repeatedly apologized to Castel for a material mistaken statement of fact that the Government made to the Court and Plaintiffs when it argued on behalf of the immigration agency — NBC News
Castel called ICE’s new position, quote, specious and a post hoc construct, and reversed his own ruling. Castel called ICE’s argument specious and a post hoc construct aimed at conforming the agency’s practices to a slew of litigation around the country targeting its aggressive nationwide deportation campaign — Courthouse News Service
A federal agency ran a year-long arrest campaign on legal authority it never had Castel ruled the NYCLU and others were likely to be able to prove the policy change was arbitrary and capricious, issuing a stay seven months after the initial lawsuit was filed — THE CITY
A court only learned the truth because ICE accidentally cc’d the wrong people on its own internal correction. Justice Department attorneys informed Castel they had been given a faulty interpretation by a lawyer for ICE about the memo, including an email sent March 19 to ICE officers reminding them the memo does not permit arrests at immigration courts — The Hill