Just one day after a federal judge banned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from arresting immigrants at three lower Manhattan immigration courthouses, agents violated the order—detaining a 21-year-old Honduran man at one of the protected locations on Tuesday.
US District Judge P. Kevin Castel issued the ruling Monday in response to a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU, Make the Road NY, and other groups, blocking ICE arrests at 26 Federal Plaza, 290 Broadway, and 201 Varick Street except in cases involving serious public safety threats.
By Tuesday, ICE had already defied it.
Masked agents apprehended the man, identified only as Alexander, at around 9:15 a.m. on the 12th floor of 26 Federal Plaza following his court-ordered hearing. Moments before the arrest, an ICE agent reportedly told an immigration rights volunteer, “We don’t care.”
The US Department of Homeland Security claimed Alexander was an active member of the Bloods street gang and had faced charges for burglary, robbery, larceny, and possession of stolen property. According to amNewYork, those charges were dismissed and sealed. Alexander was later released after the New York Legal Assistance Group and NYU Law School filed an emergency habeas corpus petition on his behalf.
ICE’s violation of the court order drew an immediate response from Brad Lander, the former New York City Comptroller and NY-10 congressional candidate who has spent the past year court-watching at those same locations. Lander joined a court-watching shift at 26 Federal Plaza Wednesday morning, followed by a press conference with immigrant rights organizations including Immigrant Arc, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, New Sanctuary Coalition, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
“ICE has made all-too-clear that they’re willing to ignore the law, lie to the public, and fabricate stories about the immigrants they detain, reporters, and elected officials.” Lander told Courier New York. “I was furious to see that they ignored the ruling yesterday by detaining a young man at 26 Federal Plaza.”
Lander said he was relieved not to witness any violations during Wednesday’s shift.
“I pray they follow Judge Castel’s order, rather than risk the constitutional crisis of directly flouting a federal judge,” he said. “The crime is not our movement demanding accountability—it’s what ICE is doing to our immigrant neighbors.”
What makes the violation especially stark: the ruling itself came after ICE admitted it never had legal justification for the courthouse arrests in the first place.
“ICE has admitted that it does not and has never had an explanation or justification for conducting mass arrests at immigration courts,” Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the NYCLU, said in a statement Monday.
“For nearly a year, countless immigrant New Yorkers have been arrested simply for attending their court hearings,” said Harold Solis, co-legal director of Make the Road New York, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “Parents were ripped away from their children, students were detained, and loved ones disappeared into inhumane detention centers.”
DHS pushed back on the ruling, posting on X that “nothing prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them” and expressing confidence it would ultimately be vindicated.
The defiance fits a national pattern of ICE operating outside legal boundaries. Judges have ruled against ICE detention practices in roughly 90% of cases—more than 10,000 rulings—since the agency began its sweeping detention policy last July, according to a recent Politico analysis. More than 170 US citizens have detained during raids and protests in 2025, many held without access to a lawyer, according to a ProPublica investigation.
Lander faces his own federal trial on June 10 stemming from his arrest at 26 Federal Plaza last September, when he and other elected officials were charged with obstruction after demanding access to a makeshift detention facility on the building’s 10th floor.
“I’m looking forward to my trial on June 10th,” Lander said. “As I’ve said all along, and the judge’s order helps prove—the crime is not our movement demanding accountability, it’s what ICE is doing to our immigrant neighbors.”
