Trump administration admits fault over immigration court arrests

The US Justice Department on Tuesday told a federal judge that it had mistakenly been using an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) memo to justify arrests at immigration courts, CNN reported on Thursday, citing a recent filing in an ongoing lawsuit.

The case, filed last year by civil rights groups, contests the Trump administration's controversial policy of making arrests at immigration courts.

In a rare admission of fault in a letter to Judge Kevin Castel filed Tuesday, Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, acknowledged that the administration had provided inaccurate information to the court regarding a May 2025 ICE memo that has been cited repeatedly in the case.

The department reportedly learned this week that the memo pertains to enforcement actions in or near courthouses generally, not specifically immigration courts, which fall under its own jurisdiction.

"We write respectfully and regrettably to correct a material mistaken statement of fact that the Government made to the Court and Plaintiffs," Clayton said, noting that ICE counsel informed the department earlier that the guidance "does not and has never applied to civil immigration enforcement actions" near immigration courts.

Clayton added that the government would retract sections of its legal briefs and statements made during oral arguments last September that had relied on the guidance.

"We deeply regret that this error has come to light at this late stage, after the parties have expended significant resources and time to litigate this case and this court has carefully considered Plaintiffs' challenge to the 2025 ICE guidance," he wrote.

Following the government's admission, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union, both involved in the lawsuit, said the consequences of the development could be extensive.

"In the months since the Court relied on the government's representation to deny Plaintiffs preliminary relief, Defendants have continued arresting noncitizens at their immigration court hearings, resulting in their detention—often in facilities hundreds of miles away," they wrote to the judge.

In numerous cases under the Trump administration, non-citizens have been arrested at courthouses, often while lawfully checking in or taking care of their immigration status. Such arrests illicitly target law-abiding non-citizens and jeopardize the proper functioning of the judicial system, according to critics.