Immigration advocates have welcomed a United States federal court’s ruling that struck down a policy by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in arresting Caribbean and other immigrants at courthouses.
The Southern District Court of New York on Thursday issued a final, landmark ruling in the African Communities Together and The D00r versus Todd Kyons in striking down one of the Trump administration’s most extreme policies that allowed ICE agents to arrest migrants for showing up at immigration courts
‘With this ruling, ICE officers cannot conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near immigration courthouses, except under limited circumstances, in New York City and across the nation,’ Harold Solis, co-legal director for the immigrant advocacy group, Make the Road New York (MRNY), told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
‘The court’s ruling is a monumental victory for immigrant families and the rule of law. It brings to an end the cruel and callous practice of arresting immigrants simply for showing up to their court hearings-something that no one should have to worry about, and yet so many were forced to live under that cloud of fear,’ he added.
Solis said that the ruling marks a turning point, and that the focus now shifts to doing everything power to ensure the government fully complies with the court’s decision.’
The court found the government’s mass immigration court arrest policy to be ‘arbitrary and capricious’ under the Administrative Procedure Act, and restores pre-existing policies barring immigration courthouse arrests, except in rare circumstances.
Solis said that, originally, the case also challenged a related 2025 Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) policy that urged immigration judges to dismiss noncitizens’ immigration proceedings without proper procedural protections.
In this order, the court dismissed that claim as ‘moot’, because the government had already fully and permanently rescinded it as result of an earlier order in this case.
‘The ruling is an enormous win for every noncitizen seeking to safely attend their immigration court proceedings,’ said Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).
‘For too long, we watched masked, often armed, ICE officers ambush noncitizens in courthouse hallways, throw immigrants to the ground, and tear sobbing children from their parents.
‘But, with today’s order, the court made clear: ICE’s cruel, unjustified policy of conducting mass immigration arrests in courthouses is unlawful and cannot stand,’ Belsher added.
Oscar Sarabia Roman, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project, said Caribbean and other immigrants ‘should not be arrested for doing exactly what the legal system requires of them.
‘They should be able to come to court, take part in their cases, and leave without fear,’ he said, while Katie Rosenfeld, partner at the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward and Maazel LLP, said Caribbean and other immigrants ‘should not have to choose between attending a required immigration hearing and risking detention, or staying away and risking a deportation order for failing to appear.
‘This ruling restores important safeguards and makes clear that ICE cannot abandon those protections without a reasoned explanation. Due process requires a meaningful opportunity to be heard, and that means people must be able to come to court without fear,’ she added.
MRNY said it originally filed the lawsuit on August 1, last year and in arch this year, the Trump administration admitted that a 2025 memorandum, which it had relied on throughout the case to justify its immigration court arrest policy, does not and has never authorised any immigration courthouse arrests.
Immediately after, MRNY said the organizations asked the court to reconsider its denial, and the court issued a stay. MRNY said this final federal ruling affirms that order, and expands it to apply nationwide. It is effective immediately.
On September 24, MRNY welcomed an order by a US district court in New York granting a permanent injunction that requires ICE to improve detention conditions and mitigate overcrowding in lower Manhattan.
MRNY said the permanent injunction came months after documents revealed that ICE violated a court order to reduce overcrowding at temporary holding facility in New York.