Federal judge blocks Trump immigration policy allowing courthouse arrests

A federal judge in California has struck down Trump administration policies that expanded immigration arrests at courthouses and allowed noncitizens to be held in short-term detention facilities for up to 72 hours. The ruling, issued on Tuesday by US District Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California, vacated policies from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review.

Judge Pitts, appointed by former President Joe Biden, found the actions 'arbitrary and capricious' under the Administrative Procedure Act. The decision effectively reinstates Biden-era rules that limited courthouse arrests to narrow circumstances—such as national security threats, imminent danger, or hot pursuit of someone posing a public safety risk—and capped short-term detentions at 12 hours.

The case was brought by an asylum seeker who was arrested after leaving a routine hearing at a San Francisco immigration court. In his 71-page ruling, Judge Pitts wrote that the Trump administration failed to provide reasoned explanations for rescinding previous policies, as required by law. 'For 80 years, Congress has commanded federal agencies to think before they act,' he stated.

The Trump administration has ramped up immigration arrests since President Donald Trump returned to office in January last year as part of an aggressive deportation push. The Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel, James Percival, criticized the ruling on social media, calling it 'naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda.'

The ruling applies nationwide and partially reverses key enforcement measures enacted under the current administration.