A federal judge in California has delivered what was described as a major setback to President Trump's immigration policy, blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement from making arrests inside immigration courts. According to the coverage, the ruling came down yesterday and centres on the practice of agents detaining people at the very buildings where they go to argue their cases.
In the ruling, the judge found that federal officials had violated a key statute when they changed the guidelines on courthouse arrests. The Trump administration had reversed the previous guidance shortly after the president returned to office early last year, opening the way for ICE to move into immigration courthouses and detain people there.
The judge said that when ICE moves into an immigration courthouse, it stops immigrants from seeking due process by pursuing their asylum claims. The people affected, according to the account, are those showing up at their appointed time to make a claim on why they should be allowed to stay in the United States, even temporarily, or to obtain work authorisation while their asylum cases are heard.
The coverage pointed to a memo from last year, in which the Justice Department directed immigration judges, who work for the department and are not independent in the way other judges are, to begin dismissing asylum cases from the bench. Once a case was dismissed, ICE could then move in and arrest the person pursuing that claim right there at the court.
The ruling tells ICE agents that they cannot be making these arrests in courthouses, though it could be appealed and followed by a further ruling. Even with the order in place, the report noted, immigration judges could continue to follow the earlier direction and dismiss more cases from the bench, leaving questions about how the decision will play out in practice.
It is the second such setback for the Trump administration over courthouse arrests. Last month, a federal judge banned arrests at immigration courts in New York. Yesterday's decision in California adds to the legal pushback against the policy, as courts weigh the tension between immigration enforcement and the due process rights of people pursuing asylum.