RAICES Bulletin: Courthouse Arrests Blocked Nationwide
By RAICES Public Affairs Director Javier Hidalgo, Esq.
TL;DR On June 23, 2026, a federal court vacated the 2025 policies that authorized widespread civil immigration arrests at immigration courthouses, ruling the directives to be arbitrary and capricious. Although this decision successfully restores prior limits to protect community safety and ensure equal access to justice, legal advocates remain vigilant due to potential administration non-compliance and likely government appeals.
WHAT TO KNOW
Issue: On June 23, 2026, the court in Pablo Sequen et al. v. Albarran et al., (N.D. Cal.) vacated the 2025 policies authorizing widespread civil immigration arrests at immigration courthouses. The court ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s (EOIR) courthouse arrest policies are arbitrary and capricious. This complete vacatur successfully restores prior limits on civil courthouse arrests.
Rationale: The court found that ICE’s 2025 courthouse-arrest policies rescinded previous guidance without acknowledging the shift or addressing its impact on courthouse attendance. Meanwhile, EOIR’s 2025 corresponding EOIR policy improperly relied on the flawed assumption that ICE’s rescission of its 2021 guidance was valid. In vacating both policies, the court emphasized the baseline legal requirement for reasoned decision-making.
RAICES Impact: RAICES works directly with detained individuals and families arrested by ICE at courthouses, as well as non-detained individuals facing detention risks during mandatory hearings. Recent expansions of expedited removal cast doubt on whether and how ICE will comply with this new order. Given the administration’s tendency to flout court orders, our legal staff remains vigilant to identify courthouse detentions and equip non-detained clients with rights information for potential ICE encounters anywhere in the community.
Community Impact: Vacating might alleviate the chilling effect where families have to choose between missing court and risking immediate detention for going to court. Restoring these boundaries protects community safety, while ensuring equal access to justice and fair legal proceedings for adults and children alike. However, the administration’s ongoing anti-immigrant campaign continues to generate fear, confusion, and harm throughout the immigrant community.
Related Legal Battles: Parallel challenges to this policy remain ongoing in other venues. The government will likely appeal adverse decisions to push the case to the Supreme Court, a venue it views as favorable to its agenda.
Broader Immigration Strategy: By turning immigration courthouses into entrapment zones, the administration strips noncitizens of their ability to safely seek lawful relief. This ruling reinforces that the executive branch cannot bypass legal requirements in their ongoing campaign to fill privately run prisons with noncitizens and then fast track their removals. Advocates should be encouraged by this win for our system of checks and balances, and the legal community should continue to help ensure that laws are followed, even by the highest office in our country.
