ICE Makes Arrests at NYC Immigration Court Despite Court Ban

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made yet another arrest at a New York City immigration court, despite a May ruling from a federal judge that broadly blocked such detentions.

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled May 18 that ICE never had the legal justification to make these arrests. His order, which applied to immigration courts in Manhattan, kneecapped the agency’s controversial strategy of detaining people as they arrived for mandatory immigration hearings.

Despite that, ICE has made at least six arrests in Manhattan immigration courts since Castel issued his order. The latest arrest came on Thursday, when agents detained Bronx resident Matar Ndiaye while he was “dutifully attending an immigration court hearing for his asylum claim,” according to court filings.

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Ndiaye adds he had no due process and no prior warning before he was detained. He was never deemed a flight risk or a danger to the community by an immigration judge.

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Ndiaye was briefly detained in an ICE holding room at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan before he was transferred to Delaney Hall, a scrutinized New Jersey facility, according to ICE detainee records.

His legal arguments, that he was not afforded due process prior to his detention, are consistent with many of the thousands of other habeas petitioners swept up by the Trump administration’s widespread deportation agenda. But the site of Ndiaye’s arrest adds another layer to his bid for release.

Since Castel’s order was filed in May, ICE has tried to justify its persistent arrests at immigration courts by claiming “alternative locations in New York” were unsafe due to the possibility of anti-ICE protesters.

According to the agency, this concern falls within the narrow exceptions to Castel’s ruling, which only allowed for arrests at immigration court if they involve a threat to national security or public safety.

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