A coalition of legal advocates and immigrants filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday to halt what they describe as a growing pattern of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detaining migrants at immigration court hearings, arrests that plaintiffs argue violate constitutional protections and due process rights.
The suit, lodged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, targets the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and ICE. It claims that federal officials have orchestrated the mass apprehension of immigrants during routine court appearances, placing them on an expedited path to deportation without fair legal recourse.
The filings say this strategy, implemented on a large scale since May, deprives thousands of individuals of protections guaranteed under U.S. immigration law and the Fifth Amendment. The practice has particularly affected asylum-seekers and long-term residents who showed up to court in good faith, only to be detained immediately afterward.
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In many cases, the lawsuit alleges, immigration judges grant motions by government attorneys to dismiss pending deportation cases, while ICE agents wait just outside the courtroom to arrest the individuals whose cases have just been closed.
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Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the organizations behind the legal challenge, condemned the tactic as a calculated attack on the judicial process.
“People seeking refuge, safety, or relief should not be arrested, detained, and deported without a chance to be heard and given due process,” Perryman said in a statement.
She added that the Trump administration is “weaponizing” immigration courts and deterring immigrants from participating in the legal system.
The class-action suit names 12 individuals who were arrested while attending their immigration court dates, along with two immigrant legal service providers: the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative and American Gateways. Many of the plaintiffs had lived in the United States for years, some with U.S. citizen family members. Others had applied for asylum after fleeing persecution, only to have their cases terminated without warning.
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Priyanka Gandhi-Abriano, interim CEO of the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative, criticized the government’s strategy as one meant to terrorize immigrant communities.
“Our friends, neighbors, and families are told to ‘do it the right way’ — to follow the legal process,” Gandhi-Abriano said. “They’re doing just that — showing up to court, complying with the law. Despite this, they’re being arrested and detained.”
The Trump administration has defended the practice, framing it as a necessary enforcement mechanism to address what it calls the failures of former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies. Homeland Security officials said the administration is simply upholding the law after years of “catch and release” that left “millions of unvetted illegal aliens” free in U.S. communities.
Officials also stated that individuals with credible fear claims will be permitted to continue their immigration proceedings, but those who do not qualify will face expedited removal.
Nonetheless, critics view the mass arrests as a dangerous erosion of legal norms. Keren Zwick, director of litigation at the National Immigrant Justice Center, warned of systemic overreach.
“We are witnessing an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. immigration court system by the Trump administration,” Zwick said.
“Meanwhile, the administration is issuing directives telling immigration judges to violate those same immigration laws and strip people of fundamental due process rights,” she continued. “We must continue fighting to overcome the administration’s escalating attacks on the U.S. Constitution and rule of law.”
