U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff

A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from carrying out a Trump administration policy of arresting undocumented immigrants in and around state courthouses.

The ruling, from U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Southern District of New York, came as a win for New York Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who had argued that the ICE policy had a chilling effect on the ability of immigrants to participate in the justice system and on the courts' ability to administer justice.

The officials argued in a lawsuit last September that ICE had exceeded its authority under the Administrative Procedure Act and had adopted its policy in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner.

Rakoff refused to dismiss the suit in December, setting up his ruling Wednesday on both sides' motions for summary judgment.

In a 24-page opinion, Rakoff agreed that civil immigration arrests in and around state courthouses made witnesses and parties to immigration fear coming to court and created "temporary chaos" that disrupted court operations, especially in a time of widespread turmoil resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

"Recent events confirm the need for freely and fully functioning state courts, not least in the State of New York," Rakoff wrote.

"But it is one thing for the state courts to try to deal with the impediments brought on by a pandemic, and quite another for them to have to grapple with disruptions and intimidations artificially imposed by an agency of the federal government in violation of long-standing privileges and fundamental principles of federalism and of separation of powers," he said.

The ruling, issued Wednesday afternoon, granted the plaintiff's request for a injunctive and declaratory relief, capping what James and Gonzalez hailed as a full-on victory for both of their offices.

"Specifically, the court declares ICE's policy of courthouse arrests, as now embodied in the directive, to be illegal, and hereby enjoins ICE from conducting any civil arrests on the premises or grounds of New York State courthouses, as well as such arrests of anyone required to travel to a New York State courthouse as a party or witness to a lawsuit," Rakoff wrote.

In a statement, James said the ruling would protect the work of state courts and ensure that immigrants in New York could have proper access to justice.

"By allowing federal agents to interfere with state and local cases, the Trump administration endangered the safety of every New Yorker, while targeting immigrants," James said. "All New Yorkers—immigrant or not—can sleep better tonight knowing justice can continue to be carried out."

Gonzalez, in his own statement, praised the decision's finding that ICE had violated its own "longstanding practices" and internal policies.

"For more than three years, I have been calling on ICE to stop its unconscionable practice of conducting immigration raids in and around our courthouses because they jeopardize public safety," he said. "But the Trump administration only escalated this unlawful and dangerous tactic, creating a chilling effect in immigrant communities, which discouraged victims and witnesses from reporting crimes and participating in the legal process."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, which represented the administration, did not immediately respond late Wednesday to a request for comment.

The case was captioned State of New York v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Read More:

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