New York City and the state are pushing back against the federal government’s stepped-up immigration enforcement in NYC, filing separate briefs in federal court on Monday.
Both cases are pending in the Southern District of New York, with the city backing a request to halt courthouse arrests under the Administrative Procedure Act and the state seeking a preliminary injunction to stop prolonged detentions at 26 Federal Plaza.
The city’s brief, filed Aug. 18, backs a lawsuit accusing the federal government of unlawfully targeting immigrants for arrest at courthouses. It argues the practice deters people from attending hearings and undermines public safety.
The Aug. 1 lawsuit, filed by groups including African Communities Together and The Door, says Immigration and Customs Enforcement has carried out a “campaign” of detaining immigrants inside and outside 26 Federal Plaza and other courts in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. The lawsuit contends the policy abandons longstanding limits on courthouse arrests without explanation, deters attendance at hearings, and erodes trust in the justice system.
In a statement Tuesday, Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant said New York has “become the epicenter of the Trump administration’s courthouse arrest campaign” and warned that “with every illegal courthouse arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is chipping away at the bedrock principles of fairness and due process that support our entire system of justice.”
The city argued in its filing that courthouse arrests make immigrants afraid to attend court and discourage them from reporting crimes or using city services. “Our judicial system cannot work as it should, as it must, if courthouses are used as traps for those who are simply following what the law requires,” the brief said.
City officials cited recent reporting showing New York accounted for nearly one-quarter of immigration courthouse arrests nationwide between January and June, making it the nation’s leading site for such detentions.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city is asking for an immediate stop to courthouse arrests of immigrants attending required hearings, saying all New Yorkers should “feel secure to attend legal proceedings in their pursuit to obtain legal status.”
“From my first days as a rookie cop to my current role as mayor of New York City, my job is, and has always been, to keep law-abiding New Yorkers safe,” Adams said. “No one in our city should feel forced to hide in the shadows or be afraid to use resources, and that includes sending children to school, going to a hospital when sick, calling 911 when in danger, or going to a court hearing when called upon to do so.”
Over the past several months, amNewYork documented ICE activity in Lower Manhattan’s immigration court, including detainments that separated families. As of Aug. 19, detentions appeared to have slowed at 26 Federal Plaza after a U.S. District Court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting ICE from holding detainees in packed, unsanitary conditions. Agents, however, remained on several floors near the courtrooms.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a brief on Monday in support of the ongoing lawsuit challenging conditions at ICE’s Manhattan field office at 26 Federal Plaza. Since May, immigrants have reported being held there for days in small rooms with little food, poor sanitation, and no beds.
“The abhorrent treatment of immigrants at 26 Federal Plaza is illegal and it must stop,” James said. “No one should be held in horrendous conditions for days in unfit and unsafe facilities.”
The state noted that ICE used to limit holding-room stays to 12 hours but changed its policy in June to allow up to 72 hours. The filing said ICE never checked whether the Manhattan office could handle longer stays safely, warning that cramped, unsanitary conditions “inflict undue suffering on the detainees” and add to the emotional and financial strain already facing immigrant families.
The brief also highlighted the broader harms of immigration detention, including housing insecurity, economic instability, and psychological trauma for family members. James urged the court to issue a preliminary injunction requiring the federal government either to improve conditions at 26 Federal Plaza or stop using the site for extended detentions.
