A federal judge in New York has barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting immigrants in or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan, where immigration proceedings occur.
U.S. District Judge P Kevin Castel issued an order prohibiting federal agents from apprehending immigrants except under exceptional circumstances at sites where hearings are held before immigration judges.
Judge Castel’s decision immediately stops a practice that began under the second Trump administration in which immigration officers detained individuals who appeared in court for immigration hearings.
According to The Guardian, the federal buildings, including 26 Federal Plaza, where ICE currently holds an office, have been the site of immigrants’ arrests, related protests, and altercations between agents and demonstrators, which have included the detention of local elected officials.
According to NBC News, Castel wrote in his 15-page order that although there was “a strong governmental interest in enforcing immigration laws,” there also was a serious interest in letting individuals attend removal proceedings and pursue asylum claims before a judge “without fear of arrest.”
Castel affirmed that officers can still arrest individuals at locations away from the courts and at immigration courthouses, only if there are serious threats to public safety.
Judge Castel affirmed that boundaries regarding enforcement operations inside courthouses can remain in effect, citing an April 2021 federal policy, while assuring that a court case before him would most likely result in a ruling that it was “arbitrary and capricious” for the second Trump administration to withdraw that policy.
Judge Castel initially cleared the way for arrests at Manhattan immigration courts in September 2025 but later said that government attorneys had recently reversed their position, arguing that they had learned that 2025 policies regarding arrests in and around courthouses set by the Trump administration did not apply to immigration courts after all.
Judge Castel’s order comes in response to a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road NY and other groups.
