Latest news with #ICEagents
WIRED
5 days ago
- Politics
- WIRED
ICE Quietly Scales Back Rules for Courthouse Raids
Dhruv Mehrotra Dell Cameron Jun 4, 2025 6:24 PM A requirement that ICE agents ensure courthouse arrests don't clash with state and local laws has been rescinded by the agency. ICE declined to explain what that means for future enforcement. Photo-Illustration: Wired Staff;Immigration and Customs Enforcement has quietly rescinded guidance that advised ICE agents conducting courthouse raids to take steps to avoid violating state and local laws while carrying out civil immigration arrests. The subtle policy change could lead to an escalation in enforcement tactics and legal disputes. Revised policy guidance recently posted to ICE's website and reviewed by WIRED reveals efforts by the agency to enhance the discretion and autonomy of the federal agents making arrests in and around courthouses—one of the more aggressive initiatives employed by the Trump administration as part of its all-out push to round up migrants across the United States and its territories. The policy revision has not been previously reported. In recent weeks, ICE agents have made high-profile arrests of immigrants attending routine court hearings, as part of the administration's effort to conduct what Trump calls the largest deportation campaign in American history. The change in guidance comes amid sweeping ICE raids across the US, some sparking protests and heated confrontations with citizens, threatening an erosion of local autonomy and democratic governance over law enforcement operations within communities, while further blurring the line between civil and criminal enforcement. Interim guidance, issued in January by ICE's former acting director, Caleb Vitello, ordered agents to ensure that courthouse arrests were 'not precluded by laws imposed by the jurisdiction in which enforcement actions will take place.' Todd Lyons, the current acting director, issued a superseding memo dated May 27 that removes the language about respecting local laws and statutes that limit ICE agents from performing 'enforcement actions' in or near courthouses. 'The old policy required ICE to consult with a legal advisor to determine whether making an arrest at or near a courthouse might violate a non-federal law. The new policy eliminates that requirement,' says Anthony Enriquez, vice president at RFK Human Rights, a human rights advocacy nonprofit. 'Now, these frequently complex legal questions fall to the judgment of a line officer untrained in local laws.' "It is certainly yet another effort to unleash and expand ICE's enforcement operations without regard to state law,' says Emma Winger, deputy legal director at the American Immigration Council. Federal policy guidance is not legally binding, but carries the power of law in practice, prescribing ICE agents with mandated procedures for executing enforcement operations. In response to a request for comment, ICE spokesperson Mike Alvarez referred WIRED to the May 27 memorandum. ICE declined to clarify whether it would continue to consider local courthouse policies and security protocols during enforcement actions. Vitello, responsible for issuing the original guidance, was appointed ICE acting director by President Donald Trump soon after inauguration. Vitello was removed in late February and reportedly transferred to oversee the agency's deportation operations. Lyons assumed the acting directorship in March. The Biden administration previously limited ICE enforcement actions in and around courthouses in 2021, saying the arrests—which reportedly spiked during Trump's first term—'had a chilling effect on individuals' willingness to come to court or work cooperatively with law enforcement.' ICE policies continue to advise agents to "generally avoid" actions around courts focused on civil matters—the vast majority of immigration cases are civil in nature—without the authorization of a high-ranking supervisor. However, under Biden, such actions could only be taken at courts (of any kind) to resolve a national security matter or to prevent threats to public safety or the destruction of evidence material to a criminal case. The Biden-era policy was a response, in turn, to 2018 guidance issued under Trump, which had directed ICE to arrest migrants at local courthouses. Last month, at a meeting shortly before Lyons once again altered the policy, Trump deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller and Department of Homeland Security director Kristi Noem reportedly told ICE to deport 3,000 people per day, according to Axios, a drastic increase over the first Trump administration's deportation rates. Earlier this week, Lyons defended his agents' use of masks to hide their identities following a confrontation with citizens outside the Buona Forchetta restaurant in San Diego, California. Videos of the event captured by bystanders showed agents deploying flash-bang type devices in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Passersby protesting the raid outside the South Park neighborhood restaurant can be overheard calling the masked agents 'Nazis' and 'fascists.' Winger explains that ICE has long made arrests inside state courthouses without regard for state law. Agents often use court dockets, for instance, to locate migrants scheduled to appear in court, facilitating targeted arrests. Last month, ICE agents arrested at least a dozen immigrants as they arrived at New York City courthouses for scheduled hearings—including a Bronx high school student. Under New York State law, federal immigration authorities are barred from making civil arrests in and around state courthouses without a judicial warrant. The law does not, however, restrict ICE from making arrests in federal courthouses, where immigration and asylum hearings are typically held. The City of New York on Monday sued Lyons and ICE, as well as DHS and Noem, over the Bronx student's arrest in an effort to effect his release. Winger expects the May 27 policy shift will impact states such as Colorado that have similar protections. Last week, DHS published a list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that includes dozens of cities and counties that DHS said were non-compliant with federal law. The effort was seemingly part of an initiative to push back against municipalities it believes are obstructing its immigration goals. On Sunday, after push back from local governments, DHS scrubbed the list from its website. 'This policy memorandum change is another attack from the Trump administration against state and local laws that enact across-the-board limits on civil arrests in sensitive locations like schools, churches, hospitals, and courthouses,' adds Enriquez. 'In the future, we should expect to see legal challenges to the federal government's encroachment on state sovereignty. And in the meantime, we should also expect less justice in our local and state courts.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge Orders Release Of Georgetown Scholar Detained By Trump Administration
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Georgetown University scholar Dr. Badar Khan Suri must be released from Texas immigration detention, saying he poses no threat to the community and that the Trump administration likely violated his First Amendment rights when masked ICEagents snatched him outside his Virginia home in March. A lawyer for the Indian-born Suri, who was teaching at Georgetown on an academic visa, announced the ruling outside the Virginia courtroom to massive cheers from the crowd. The Trump administration accused Suri of 'actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media' when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him and revoked his visa nearly two months ago. U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles ruled that Suri may be released so long as he maintains his residency in Virginia and attends other hearings in his case, which he may do virtually. Suri's wife, Mapheze Saleh, a U.S. citizen who is Palestinian-American, released a statement after the ruling expressing deep gratitude to Giles for her ruling. 'Hearing the judge's words brought tears to my eyes,' Saleh said. 'I truly wish I could give her a heartfelt hug from me and from my three children, who long every day to see their father again. Speaking out about what's happening in Palestine is not a crime.' A day before his release, Suri published an account of what happened to him on Truthout, reaffirming that he 'unapologetically support[s] Palestinians, and their inalienable rights guaranteed by international law.' Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who attended at least one of Suri's hearings earlier this month, said the judge's ruling was a 'taste of justice' for his constituent. 'Dr. Khan Suri was targeted because the Trump Administration wanted to instill fear on American campuses by responding with unnecessarily and illegally draconian force to students and scholars who expressed views they dislike,' Beyer said in a statement. 'The administration's treatment of Dr. Badar Khan Suri and the growing list of others like him has been authoritarian and is a gross betrayal of American values. This persecution of dissent must end.' According to court filings, Suri was teaching a course on minority rights in South Asia before his arrest. Despite his detention, he has not been charged with any crimes. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Suri in court, said he was moved among five different ICE facilities across three states in just four days before landing at a facility in Texas, 'where he spent nearly two weeks in a room without a bed and with a television blaring twenty-one hours a day,' the organization said in a statement upon his release. He was also issued used underwear and dressed in a 'bright red high-risk uniform reserved for people alleged to pose the greatest security threats,' the ACLU said. Suri's arrest hinged on Trump administration claims that Suri had 'close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement following his arrest. Suri's father-in-law, Ahmed Yousef, did serveas an adviser to late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, but told The New York Times that he'd left the role over a decade ago and holds no senior position in the organization. He has publicly criticized the militant group's attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, calling it a 'terrible error.' This is the third time in days that a federal judge has ruled that a Trump-targeted academic must be released from immigration detention. Last week, a judge ordered the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish visa holder at Tufts University, who was detained for for co-authoring an op-ed in her school newspaper. The week before, a judge ordered the release of Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian student visa holder at Columbia University whom Trump officials branded a 'terrorist sympathizer.' The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Suri's release. Historians Are 'Shocked' By What They've Seen Trump Do In Just 100 Days Rümeysa Öztürk, Student Visa Holder Detained For Writing An Op-Ed, Released On Bail Palestinian Activist Slams Trump After Release From Detention: 'You Will Not Silence Me' Mahmoud Khalil Shares Letter From ICE Detention: 'I Am A Political Prisoner'
