Judge Blocks ICE Agents From Conducting Arrests At Immigration Courts In New York

原始链接: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/judge-blocks-ice-agents-conducting-arrests-immigration-courts-new-york

美国联邦地区法官P·凯文·卡斯特尔（P. Kevin Castel）发布了一项裁决，禁止联邦特工在曼哈顿的三处法院进行民事移民逮捕，除非涉及对公共安全的严重威胁。该裁决源于纽约公民自由联盟及其他倡导组织提起的诉讼，旨在挑战美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）在移民法庭内实施逮捕的权力。法院做出此项决定，是因为政府承认其就2025年ICE执法指南对法庭诉讼的适用性问题提供了“重大失实”信息。此前，法官曾拒绝阻止该政策，但政府承认存在“机构律师错误”，促使法官重新审理此请求，以防止“明显的非正义”。卡斯特尔法官承认，移民执法与确保个人在无需担忧被拘留的情况下出席法律诉讼之间需要取得平衡。代表原告的法律倡导者称赞这一裁决是一项重大胜利，为非公民安全地使用司法系统提供了保障。美国国土安全部尚未就该裁决发表评论。

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A federal judge issued a ruling on May 18 barring federal agents from conducting arrests at three Manhattan immigration courts, except in limited circumstances.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups on behalf of The Door and African Communities Together, which sought to challenge U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policies that allow federal agents to arrest people in immigration courts.

Castel had initially declined to block the policy last September, but the plaintiffs later filed a motion in response to a March letter in which the government admitted that the 2025 ICE guidance—which it had relied on to justify arrests at immigration courts following the lawsuit—“does not and has never applied” to civil immigration enforcement actions at immigration courts.

In a 15-page ruling on May 18, Castel granted the plaintiffs’ request to stay the ICE policy, barring federal agents from arresting people at three Manhattan immigration courts—26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway—except under “certain enumerated circumstances.”

“There is a strong governmental interest in enforcing immigration laws. There is also a serious interest of The Door to be free to assist its members in defending removal proceedings brought against them and pursuing defensive asylum applications before an [immigration judge] without fear of arrest,” Castel stated.

The judge added that ICE agents are only allowed to make arrests at immigration courts when there are “serious threats of physical harm to public safety.”

Castel also said the government’s concession that the 2025 policies did not apply to immigration courts warranted reexamining his previous ruling “to correct a clear error and prevent a manifest injustice.”

In a March 24 letter addressed to Castel, government lawyers expressed regret over a “material mistaken statement of fact” presented to the court and said it was caused by “agency attorney error.”

“This error, however, was not caused by a lack of diligence and care by the undersigned attorneys. The undersigned were specifically informed by ICE that the 2025 ICE Guidance applied to immigration courthouse arrests,” the letter states.

Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the latest ruling “an enormous win for noncitizen New Yorkers seeking to safely attend their immigration court proceedings.”

“We look forward to a final ruling in the case that sets aside these cruel, pointless policies once and for all,” Belsher said in a May 18 statement.

The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.