The DOJ says it mistakenly relied on the ICE memo to justify detention in immigration courts

The Trump administration has admitted in court that it mistakenly relied on the ICE memo to justify detention in immigration courts as part of an ongoing lawsuit brought by groups seeking to block the tactic.

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they used the memo, titled “2025 ICE Guidance,” to defend the Trump administration’s deployment of ICE agents to court, which has led to the arrest of dozens of immigrants who attended the hearings.

The memo indicated that “ICE officers or agents may conduct immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have reliable information” that a target will be “in a particular location.”

But, the Justice Department said in a court filing, the memo “does not seek and has never applied to immigration enforcement actions in or near” immigration courts.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement released Wednesday, the immigrant rights groups that brought the lawsuit against the administration’s tactics to detain immigrants in federal courts said the consequences of the Justice Department’s disclosures are “too far-reaching.”

In a statement, Amy Belsher, a New York Civil Liberties Union attorney for the plaintiffs, called the development a “shocking revelation.”

“It’s yet another example of ICE’s disregard for the lives of immigrants in this country,” Belsher said. “Now it is more clear than before that there is no reason to raid and arrest people who come to court.”

The government said that in the file noticed the error on Tuesday when it received an email sent to ICE staff as a “reminder that the May 27, 2025, Directive does not apply to Executive Office for Immigration Review (Immigration) courts, regardless of location.”

Prosecutors did not say why they obtained the ICE email.

Prosecutors say they mistakenly reported the case to immigrant rights groups in the country.

The US district judge in charge of the case, Kevin Castel, dismissed the parties’ request to block the arrest of the executives in court. In the ruling, Castel said ICE guidelines “allow for detention at or near immigration court.”

In presenting its report on Tuesday, the Justice Department repeatedly apologized to Castel for “a significant misrepresentation the Government made to the Court and to the plaintiffs” when it argued on behalf of the immigration organization.

“Based on our discussions with ICE today, this tragic error appears to have occurred due to an attorney’s error,” prosecutors wrote.

As of Wednesday night, Castel had not responded to the public docket of the case.

Because of this error, prosecutors agreed that the court’s opinion and decision on September 12 and the plaintiffs’ information “will have to be reviewed and re-reported in order for the Court to rule on the plaintiffs’ APA. [Administrative Procedure Act] claims against ICE on the merits.”

Prosecutors said they got permission from ICE attorneys before filing the entire document and making any oral arguments to the court and plaintiffs in the case.

Although the government withdrew portions of its documents that relied on the ICE memo, prosecutors wrote, the withdrawal “does not affect their arguments that ICE immigration court detention does not violate any so-called common law right against judicial detention.”

The Trump administration’s tactic of detaining immigrants at scheduled immigration hearings has sparked outrage. In May, Dylan Contreras, a New York City public school student with no criminal history, was arrested after a hearing. Contreras, who was 20 at the time and was pursuing a green card after arriving from Venezuela, was released this month.

DHS said Contreras entered the US during the Biden administration and that ICE was “following the law and placing these illegal immigrants in prompt removal, as they should have always.”

His lawyers argue that Contreras is seeking asylum.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani told X, “What should have been time for him to focus on finishing high school was instead 10 months in solitary confinement, after being held in custody for what should have been an immigration hearing last May.”