A Honduran man was arrested after a hearing inside 26 Federal Plaza a day after a judge barred most arrests inside New York City immigration courts.
Court observers and advocates were shocked Tuesday morning after a 21-year-old Honduran man was taken by masked ICE agents after he left a routine hearing Tuesday morning on the 12th Floor immigration court.
“We said to the people don’t worry, they can’t detain more people,” said Father Fabian Arias, of Saint Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, who was among the volunteer court observers inside 26 Federal Plaza Tuesday morning. “I can’t believe now — 20 minutes ago, it was in seconds. I was absolutely surprised.”
While a federal judge’s order Monday barred most ICE arrests in court, the agency is still allowed to make immigration arrests under certain circumstances, including threats to national security or or an extreme public safety concern, according to exceptions laid out in a 2021 internal policy memo.
It wasn’t clear right away if the man’s arrest would fit one of those carveouts. ICE didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
“We are rapidly gathering as much information as possible regarding the nature of this arrest,” said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Manhattan) said in a statement Tuesday. “But it certainly appears as if ICE has outright defied a court order issued yesterday that ruled that ICE should cease courthouse arrests absent specific circumstances. DHS appears to think it makes up the law. They don’t. They must answer for this arrest immediately.”
Later on Tuesday, the New York Legal Assistance Group confirmed it would represent the man who they identified by his first name, Alexander, alongside attorneys from the New York Habeas Project, based out of NYU Law School.
“We’re not shocked that ICE kept their presence in 26 Federal Plaza despite Judge Castel’s ruling yesterday,” said Benjamin Remy, a NYLAG attorney who’s spent months observing ICE arrests in immigration courts. “After almost a year of countless people suffering at the hands of ICE’s cruel and violent mass detention and deportation policy, ICE has proven that they don’t plan to stop.”
Kaye Dyja, a spokesperson for the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is among the groups that sued over the immigration courthouse arrest policy, said they were looking into the arrest to see if it complied with prior 2021 guidance.
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