Judge says Trump administration can't make immigration arrests at courthouses

By — Elliot Spagat, Associated Press Elliot Spagat, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-says-trump-administration-cant-make-immigration-arrests-at-courthouses Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Judge says Trump administration can't make immigration arrests at courthouses Nation Jun 24, 2026 9:53 AM EDT A judge on Tuesday barred the federal government from making arrests at immigration courts, ordering an end to a practice that took hold shortly after President Donald Trump took office last year. The Trump administration's reversal of long-standing policy against arrests at immigration court resulted "not from merely unreasoned decision-making but a complete lack of decision-making," wrote U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts of San Francisco. Authorities failed to address the "chilling effect" of arrests on whether people attend court hearings. READ MORE: Judge acquits Democratic congressional candidate arrested at New York immigration court protest "For 80 years, Congress has commanded federal agencies to think before they act," wrote Pitts, referring to the Administrative Procedure Act, a 1946 law that requires federal agencies to justify its actions. That law, he wrote, "does not require an agency to make the choice that a reviewing court might deem preferable. But it demands that an agency at least provide sound reasons for following its chosen course." The ruling is the second setback for courthouse arrests since May when a federal judge in New York barred them at immigration courts. That order applied only in New York, while the latest decision invalidated the policy nationwide. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. James Percival, the U.S. Homeland Security Department's general counsel, criticized the ruling as an exercise in judicial overreach. "When a judge sentences a defendant, the defendant is taken into custody. If an alien is ordered removed by an immigration judge, the same should happen. A district judge ordering otherwise is naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda," Percival wrote online. After Trump took office, hearings across the country often ended with cases being dismissed by the government, setting the stage for plainclothes agents to make arrests in hallways in coordination with attorneys from the Department of Homeland Security. Pitts, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, faulted the administration for carrying out the arrests and for holding people in nearby cells for longer than a prescribed 12-hour limit. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now