ICE in NYC courts: Inside Federal Plaza, masked agents keep the pressure on immigrants attending hearings in 2026

The mood inside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan is far less raucous than the ongoing ICE raids in Minnesota — but no less tense.

Very little has changed in the new year in the hallways of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza. Masked ICE agents continued to roam the hallways on Tuesday looking for individuals to talk to, and potentially detain,  on the court docket and due to appear.

Scanning the names, they matched them with their own paperwork containing their “targets.” While waiting outside the courtrooms for these so-called “targets,” the agents could be overheard discussing the recent blowback they have received across the country following the crackdown in Minneapolis.

“If Obama or Biden had done this, they wouldn’t be protesting,” one scoffed.

For months on end, ICE agents have detained numerous immigrants attending their legally mandated court hearings. The operations have slowed, but continue, despite the protests of many New Yorkers, immigration advocates, and elected officials who have decried the practice, demanding an immediate end to the unsympathetic enforcement.

On Jan. 20, one family appeared to suffer this fate. A father clung to his children, weeping before he entered the court, only to discover that he would be deported to a country from which he did not even hail.

Later on Tuesday morning, a masked ICE agent followed a man who emerged from a courtroom and immediately headed to the elevator bank. The agent followed the man inside the elevator just before the doors closed.

More recent operations at Federal Plaza have been out of the view of the press and observers, including immigration advocates and attorneys.

amNewYork scoured multiple floors of 26 Federal Plaza until that same individual was discovered on the fifth floor. He appeared shaken but would not speak of what he experienced. He was free to go on this day — something not all have been so lucky to say this month.

ater that morning a man emerged from the courtroom and immediately made his way to the elevator bank where he was immediately shadowed by an agent.Photo by Dean Moses

This year alone has already seen an emotional family separation, during which a father was detained in front of his two young children and wife, according to those who witnessed the incident. The arrest took place on the 14th floor on Jan. 16.

“They were very emotionally overwhelmed to the point where it’s very difficult for them to actually show emotion. They were constantly asking why? Constantly asking what to do?” Peter Melck Kuttel, detention coordinator for Father Fabian Arias said. “We’re just going to hope for a good outcome.”

In addition to the fear of ICE detention, court respondents are also now facing another hurdle. Those looking to apply for asylum through legal proceedings are reportedly having their cases dismissed prematurely by Homeland Security. In a recent social media post by immigrant advocate and former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, he stated the axing of cases is dubbed pretermission.

Two ICE agents stand outside of a courtroom in 26 Federal Plaza.Photo by Dean Moses

“Now the government, the Department of Homeland Security, in case after case after case, is moving to what’s called pretermit those cases, which is to just cut them off and say you no longer have the right to seek asylum,” Lander said. “It’s like an evil skeleton key to shut down the immigration court.”

Those with knowledge of this pretermission system say that the process goes further than simply cutting off the asylum applications. Kuttel told amNewYork that by cutting the case they deport immigrants to countries they do not even hail from with the promise they can continue their case from that country.

“It’s a new legal process that the courts have been pushing where they argue that you can end your asylum application in the United States and resume it in another country that is considered safe,” Kuttel explained. “So, they say that you can be pretermitted to Uganda or Honduras or Ecuador, and it has nothing to do with your origin. They’ll pretermit Latino individuals to Uganda, which makes no sense whatsoever, but that is sort of sweeping the entire floor.”

While the old challenges of ICE stalking the hallways still remain for immigrants, advocates say with the advent of pretermission the American Dream is becoming even more unattainable.

An ICE agent inside 26 Federal Plaza.Photo by Dean Moses