Biden Judge Sides Against ICE, Blocks Immigration Court Arrests Nationwide
By Ben SmithA Biden-appointed federal judge in California just threw up another nationwide roadblock against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, barring ICE from making arrests at immigration courts and tossing a separate detention policy in the same sweeping order.
U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California ruled Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when they rescinded earlier limits on courthouse arrests without, in his view, giving a sufficient explanation. Pitts vacated the policies in a 71-page order.
The order directly affects ICE’s ability to enforce removal cases that are actually being heard. ICE can no longer rely on the Trump administration’s 2025 courthouse-arrest policy, which allowed agents to take illegals into custody when they appeared for immigration court proceedings. Pitts also struck down a June 2025 waiver that allowed ICE to hold detainees in short-term holding facilities for up to 72 hours, or longer in exceptional circumstances, instead of the agency’s previous 12-hour limit.
Pitts framed the dispute around administrative process rather than raw enforcement power. The court said ICE failed to reckon with the rationale behind the earlier 2021 restrictions: that arrests at immigration courthouses could discourage noncitizens from showing up for hearings and impair the fair administration of justice.
The administration sees it more directly. If an immigration judge orders someone removed, ICE should be able to take that person into custody where that person can actually be found, including at immigration court.
Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival torched the ruling Tuesday night, arguing that Pitts had blocked a basic enforcement tool.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) also jumped in, attacking the ruling.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. https://t.co/l4WIBX2giF
— James Percival (@DHSGenCounsel) June 23, 2026
A court has ruled that federal law enforcement can’t enforce immigration laws in courthouses.
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) June 23, 2026
What?
This is yet another example of partisan judges throwing sand in the gears of immigration enforcement.
The people want —indeed, voted for—the law to be enforced! https://t.co/zGAw60odgi
Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan put the legal objection bluntly, writing that “no law limits ICE arrests at courthouses” and questioning how ICE could be barred from arresting “criminal illegal aliens that happen to be at a courthouse.”
Pitts did not say ICE lacks authority to enforce immigration law. He faulted the Trump administration for how it changed course. The court said ICE’s earlier guidance had warned that courthouse arrests could chill attendance at hearings, while EOIR’s prior guidance raised concerns about safety, courtroom access, and the public’s understanding of the separate roles of ICE and immigration judges. Pitts concluded that the 2025 policies failed to meaningfully address those concerns before the restrictions were lifted.
The judge also pointed to evidence that arrests at immigration courthouses increased after the policy change and that a former immigration judge in San Francisco reported a “dramatic decline” in attendance at master calendar hearings after enforcement activity picked up.
Then came the detention piece. ICE had waived its long-standing 12-hour limit for short-term holding facilities, citing increased enforcement activity and a shortage of detention space. Pitts ruled that ICE failed to consider alternatives and failed to address whether facilities designed for short-term processing were suitable for overnight or multi-day detention.
The order goes beyond courthouse arrests. It also strips away flexibility in detention at a time when the administration says it needs more capacity to carry out immigration enforcement.
The ruling follows a similar decision out of New York about a month ago, when U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel, a George W. Bush appointee, blocked immigration courthouse arrests in Manhattan and likewise found that the administration’s withdrawal of prior courthouse-enforcement limits was arbitrary and capricious.
DHS had not announced an appeal as of Tuesday evening, but the administration is expected to seek emergency review from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
For now, ICE is facing another nationwide order limiting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, inside the very court system where removal cases are being heard.
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