Washington, D.C, October 15 — At present, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the American Immigration Council, and Democracy Ahead filed a lawsuit within the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, demanding the discharge of important data the federal government has unlawfully withheld about arrests at immigration courts and the dismissal of immigration instances.
Learn the lawsuit submitting right here.
Since Could 20, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the united statesDepartment of Homeland Safety (DHS), U.S Division of Justice (DOJ) and Government Workplace for Immigration Evaluate (EOIR), have been participating in a coordinated effort to detain noncitizens showing for hearings in immigration courts nationwide.
Arresting individuals who voluntarily present up for his or her immigration courtroom dates searching for safety is a deeply problematic observe. Immigration courts are usually not felony courts and are speculated to be locations that assure honest hearings, not act as pipelines into detention. When those that present up looking for a good day in courtroom are as a substitute arrested, it undermines core tenets of our democracy, discourages individuals from pursuing their authorized rights, and inflicts severe human prices.
Moreover, ICE attorneys have been asking immigration judges to dismiss instances and shift individuals into expedited removing, a fast-track course of with fewer due course of protections and no path to everlasting residence. The EOIR, the company which runs the immigration courts, has directed immigration judges to grant these dismissals on the spot, regardless that this violates company coverage and long-standing observe.
In search of to higher perceive how and why arrests at immigration courts are happening, LatinoJustice and the American Immigration Council filed a complete of 11 Freedom of Info Act (FOIA) requests, six with the EOIR and 5 with ICE on July 28 and 29, 2025. The requests search fundamental details about arrests and dismissals round immigration courts, and communications between and throughout the companies coordinating these actions. LatinoJustice and the Council additionally requested for these requests to be dealt with shortly by expedited processing.
But up to now, the federal government has failed to supply well timed and satisfactory responses to 10 of those FOIA requests, in violation of the legislation. The EOIR has declared that it can’t discover any steering it issued to immigration judges about dismissing instances and courthouse arrests, regardless that a duplicate of relevant steering has been leaked to the general public. The EOIR has additionally refused to even seek for data concerning the extent of its coordination with ICE, whereas ICE has ignored or delayed the processing of all of the requests to it.
“Our FOIA requests search to shine a light-weight on how ICE operates in immigration courts, the place households are preventing to maintain their households collectively and for his or her future,” mentioned Rex Chen, supervising counsel for Immigrant Rights at LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “As an alternative of transparency, they’ve chosen secrecy, stonewalling or have offered insufficient responses to our request. It’s unacceptable to extend this pressing matter.”
“Households’ futures are on the road. That’s why we have to higher perceive how these arrests at immigration courts are being carried out, and the diploma to which supposedly impartial and impartial companies just like the EOIR are pushing a mass deportation agenda. The general public has a proper to know what the EOIR and ICE are doing behind closed doorways,” mentioned Chris Opila, employees legal professional for transparency on the American Immigration Council.
Learn the lawsuit submitting right here.
“The general public has a proper to know when our authorities rewrites the principles to make mass arrests and deny individuals of due course of — particularly contained in the very courtrooms meant to ship justice,” mentioned Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Ahead, which is individually litigating to problem these arrests. “The administration can’t disguise steering that turns immigration courts into traps and accelerates deportations with out honest hearings. We won’t permit these companies to function within the shadows. Transparency is the primary safeguard in opposition to abuse of energy, and we’re in courtroom to demand accountability.”
The lawsuit seeks to compel the 4 companies to conform absolutely with FOIA and switch over all of the paperwork attentive to 7 of the requests. It additionally calls for the expedited disclosure of steering directives and correspondence between ICE and the EOIR.
About LatinoJustice
LatinoJustice PRLDEF works to create a extra simply society by utilizing and difficult the rule of legislation to safe transformative, equitable and accessible justice, by empowering our neighborhood and by fostering management by advocacy and training. For over 50 years, LatinoJustice PRLDEF has acted as an advocate in opposition to injustices all through the nation. To study extra about LatinoJustice, go to www.LatinoJustice.org
About Democracy Ahead Basis
Democracy Ahead Basis is a nationwide authorized group that advances democracy and social progress by litigation, coverage, public training, and regulatory engagement. For extra info, please go to www.democracyforward.org
In regards to the American Immigration Council
The American Immigration Council works to strengthen America by shaping how America thinks about and acts in the direction of immigrants and immigration and by working towards a extra honest and simply immigration system that opens its doorways to these in want of safety and unleashes the power and abilities that immigrants convey. The Council brings collectively downside solvers and employs 4 coordinated approaches to advance change—litigation, analysis, legislative and administrative advocacy, and communications. In January 2022, the Council and New American Economic system merged to mix a broad suite of advocacy instruments to higher develop and shield the rights of immigrants, extra absolutely guarantee immigrants’ potential to succeed economically, and assist make the communities they settle in additional welcoming. Observe the most recent Council information and data on BlueSky @immcouncil.org and Instagram at @immcouncil.
