U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts has vacated four Trump administration immigration policies, restricting ICE courthouse arrests nationwide and ending long-term detentions at short-term field offices. The ruling, which restores narrower Biden-era enforcement guidelines, was praised by civil rights lawyers but lambasted by DHS General Counsel James Percival as judicial activism. An appeal is expected as states like Massachusetts simultaneously negotiate local legislation to limit ICE actions.
Federal court ruling on ICE
- ▪The federal lawsuit, Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of noncitizens arrested by ICE at immigration courts
- ▪The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, Carmen Aracely Pablo Sequen, is a Guatemalan asylum seeker arrested by ICE after an immigration hearing in San Francisco in July 2025
- ▪U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts vacated four Trump administration immigration enforcement policies on June 23, 2026, ruling they violated the Administrative Procedure Act
Courthouse arrest restrictions
- ▪The vacated policies include ICE Policy Nos. 11072.3 and 11072.4, which previously granted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents broad discretion to conduct courthouse arrests
- ▪Judge P. Casey Pitts' ruling restores 2021 ICE guidance and 2023 Executive Office for Immigration Review guidance, restricting courthouse arrests to defined circumstances like national security threats
ICE field office detention practices
- ▪The ruling stops ICE from holding individuals for up to 12 hours at short-term field offices, such as the Burlington, Massachusetts facility, without individual waivers
- ▪Judge P. Casey Pitts vacated ICE's Nationwide Hold Room Waiver memorandum, which had allowed ICE to hold detainees for days or weeks at administrative field offices
Trump administration immigration enforcement
- ▪A federal appeals panel in Washington D.C. overturned a district order that had halted expedited removals for undocumented persons in the country for less than two years
- ▪Under the Trump administration's immigration policies, civil immigration arrests at federal, state, and immigration courthouses had increased dramatically
Government appeals expected
- ▪James Percival, general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling as judicial activism that undermines the removal of individuals ordered deported
- ▪Legal observers and attorneys expect the Department of Justice to appeal Judge P. Casey Pitts' ruling to the federal appeals court
Massachusetts Protect Act legislation
- ▪The ICE Boston field office in Burlington, Massachusetts, has faced regular public protests and criticism from members of Congress regarding its detention conditions
- ▪Massachusetts lawmakers are negotiating the Protect Act, a bill passed by both state chambers to restrict ICE actions at courthouses, hospitals, and daycare centers
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