Justice Denied: ICE Arrests and Intimidation in Immigration Courts
At Immigrant ARC (I-ARC), our mission has always been clear: to stand with the immigrant community in moments of both crisis and calm. Founded during crisis in 2017 in response to the first Trump administration’s travel ban, our coalition’s combined decades of experience have taught us that the work never starts - or ends - with just one case, one crisis, or one moment. We continue because the need continues; and, most recently, that need has taken the form of alarming courthouse arrests. Inside federal immigration courts, masked plainclothes, armed ICE agents are detaining people following their courtroom appearances, sometimes forcefully.
This pattern of injustice and cruelty is repeated day after day in immigration courts across New York – and the country. What we’re witnessing is entirely unprecedented activity. Since its inception in 2023, I-ARC’s Friend of the Court (FOTC) program has attended court two to three times a week, assisting with more than 183 initial court hearings for unrepresented noncitizens. Until May 2025, it would be extremely rare to see an ICE agent inside the court building.
This is why we joined Immigrant ARC v. DOJ, a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop these unlawful arrests.
Our interim program director, Gillian Rowland-Kain, recently provided evidence of what she and our teams have seen in Manhattan and Buffalo to support additional lawsuits challenging both ICE courthouse arrests and the expansion of expedited removal. One such instance includes:
A father asked to consolidate his court case with his son’s and objected to dismissal of his case because he wanted the chance to present evidence supporting his timely asylum application. The immigration judge denied him the chance, and he was arrested by ICE as he left the courtroom.
This isn’t a standalone case. Our team has witnessed ICE prosecutors try to end noncitizens’ rights to continue fighting their cases before an immigration judge (through “motions to dismiss”) more than 130 times.
An immigration judge reset the hearing for a young asylum-seeker whose preferred language is Pular for when a Pular interpreter was available. In broken French, the young man told the court he had already applied for asylum last year and presented the proof from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The judge added his application to the record and served the government. ICE arrested him right after he left the courtroom.*
A recent case that received much media attention involved a 20-year-old Westchester resident, Yeonsoo Go, who was detained minutes after a routine visa hearing. She appeared before the court, left with no order of removal, only to be arrested within moments of exiting the building and then held in a Louisiana detention center. The pattern is mirrored by countless others facing abrupt separation from family and community for complying with court orders.
An immigration judge allowed a husband who jointly filed an asylum application with his wife to join their court cases and gave them time to find an attorney. ICE proceeded to separate the couple and arrested the husband as they left their hearing.*
These arrests are causing widespread fear and are having a disastrously chilling effect on participation in immigration hearings, leaving many noncitizens at risk of being removed in absentia.
This is not just about the unjust arrests themselves, but like Go, it’s also about what happens immediately following an arrest. Disturbing footage from inside 26 Federal Plaza – home to New York federal immigration court – showed makeshift holding areas on the 10th floor. Men were confined for days or over a week in a cold overcrowded room without access to medical care, showers or other basic human needs. People are being ripped from their families and intentionally sent far away or to facilities like 26 Federal Plaza—places never designed to hold anyone for more than a few hours—with limited, if any, opportunity to communicate with loved ones or legal representatives and advocates.
Last week, I-ARC sent a letter to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) with other immigration advocates, reminding the courts of their responsibility to create a safe space for people to be heard and demanding they stop permitting ICE to act with impunity. Gillian’s declaration flags such a need,
… before the hearings began, the Clerk of Court told [her] that four respondents on the master calendar docket would have their full removal proceedings dismissed. … asked if the dismissals were connected to planned arrests, and the clerk confirmed that ICE officers were stationed by the elevators. This exchange made clear that ICE (Enforcement and Removal Operations] had informed the immigration court ex parte that it intended to seek the dismissal of respondents’ Section 240 removal cases, place them in expedited removal, and detain them.
Immigrant ARC respects the legal process and the frameworks and partners that make it work. But respect is a two-way street. The immigrant community follows the rules, appear for hearings, and places its trust in the legal system. In return, these vulnerable communities deserve safety, fairness, and the assurance that their rights will be upheld. Right now, that promise is being broken.
We believe this is a moment to take on the system and to demand accountability and transparency from the institutions that were created and intended to protect all people, regardless of ethnicity or legal status, equally. Immigrant AR continues to document these abuses, share data, and bring forward the voices of those most directly impacted. If we, as a country, continue to allow these offenses to continue, we not only deepen fear, but also risk the integrity of our entire legal system.
Here’s what you can do right now:
Volunteer with I-ARC to document what is happening in immigration courts. Become part of a state-wide effort to stop these practices.
Call your representatives in Congress and tell them to hold ICE and the immigration courts accountable. Make sure they know this matters to you!
Support our work and fight!
