New York (AFP) – A US federal judge has limited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from making arrests at a New York immigration court that has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s hardline mass deportation policy. In his decision late Monday, Judge Kevin Castel banned most ICE arrests without exceptional circumstances in and around three Manhattan buildings where immigration proceedings take place.
It notably restricts ICE at 26 Federal Plaza, where masked agents have routinely detained people attending immigration hearings, sometimes using heavy-handed tactics. Arrests can only be made at courthouses in emergency situations, including where there is an “imminent risk of death, violence, or physical harm,” according to the court order.
The Department of Homeland Security, which comprises ICE, said on X it was confident it would be “vindicated in this case.” “It is commonsense to take illegal aliens into custody following completion of their removal proceedings. Nothing prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them,” it said.
On Tuesday, rights groups and lawmakers accused ICE of violating the judge’s decision by arresting a 21-year-old man in the halls of 26 Federal Plaza. Dan Goldman, a Democratic congressman for Manhattan, said “it certainly appears as if ICE has outright defied a court order issued yesterday that ruled that ICE should cease courthouse arrests absent specific circumstances.”
“DHS apparently thinks it makes up the law. They don’t. They must answer for this arrest immediately,” Goldman wrote on X.
© 2024 AFP
