A Paraguayan woman whose relative was detained by Federal agents, scuffles with officers in the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building on July 16, 2025, in New York City. Various council members and a state senator attended immigration hearings and observed Immigration and Customs Enforcement as they continued their stepped-up tactics of detaining people during routine check-ins or showing up to court for their immigration hearings.
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A group of immigrants filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, seeking to stop arrests at immigration courthouses, a tactic that has become increasingly popular as the Trump administration continues trying to achieve its mass deportation goals.
The lawsuit was filed by Democracy Forward and three other legal organizations on behalf of 12 immigrants. The motion says that the arrests of thousands of people at immigration courthouses— many of whom are showing up for their routine immigration checkups— have stripped them of rights afforded to them under U.S. immigration law and the Fifth Amendment, The Associated Press reported.
The 12 plaintiffs, identified only by pseudonyms, are from Cuba, Ecuador, Guinea, Venezuela and elsewhere. Many had entered the country without authorization from 2021 to 2024 and had applied for asylum. They were arrested when they showed up at courthouses this year. Most are in detention in New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, and fear persecution in their home countries, The New York Times added.
“Noncitizens, including most of the individual plaintiffs here, have been abruptly ripped from their families, lives, homes and jobs for appearing in immigration court, a step required to enable them to proceed with their applications for permission to remain in this country,” a passage of the lawsuit says.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the Trump administration is “weaponizing” immigration courts and chilling participation in the legal process.
“People seeking refuge, safety, or relief should not be arrested, detained, and deported without a chance to be heard and given due process,” Perryman said in a statement.
Courthouse arrests have become an increasingly popular tactic from the Trump administration to quickly detain migrants. The practice is often preferred as ICE can detain migrants who show up for mandated court dates without having to send agents to arrest people in their homes or workplaces, which requires more time and resources.
The new tactic, which breaks with a longstanding practice in which ICE stayed away from the courts, has led to close collaboration between agents and prosecutors from the agency who pursue cases against immigrants accused of illegally entering the country. Migrants are entitled to mount a defense and to apply for asylum if they fear returning to their home countries.
Priyanka Gandhi-Abriano, interim CEO of Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, said the arrests are a deliberate attempt to intimidate people.
“Our friends, neighbors, and families are told to ‘do it the right way’— to follow the legal process,” Gandhi-Abriano said in a statement. “They’re doing just that— showing up to court, complying with the law. Despite this, they’re being arrested and detained.”
The Trump administration did not immediately comment on the lawsuit. However, Homeland Security officials have defended the practice, saying the administration is implementing the rule of law after former President Joe Biden’s “catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.”
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