A federal judge in California has issued a ruling banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making arrests inside immigration courts nationwide, blocking one of the Trump administration\u2019s strategies for carrying out mass deportations.<\/p>\n
When the Trump administration began its crackdown on illegal immigration last year, ICE reversed its previous policy against making arrests in or near immigration courthouses. <\/p>\n
As a result, many people accused of being in the country illegally have been detained and separated from their families when they show up for routine hearings and check-ins at courthouses. <\/p>\n
Immigration attorneys have spoken out against the practice, saying it punishes people who are trying to comply with the rules and turns the justice system into a place of fear. The Department of Homeland Security has argued that courts are a safe and convenient place to detain people who are in the country illegally. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Judge P. Casey Pitts, with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, issued a 71-page ruling calling the practice \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d and saying that it conflicted with prior concerns ICE had raised about the negative effect courthouse arrests have on attendance rates. Pitts was nominated to the federal bench by President Biden. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe policies entirely fail to address the chilling effect of courthouse arrests on noncitizens\u2019 attendance at court proceedings, which is both a critical factor underlying ICE\u2019s 2021 guidance and an \u2018important aspect of the problem\u2019 in its own right,\u201d Pitts wrote.<\/p>\n