ICE agents detained Hempstead man with valid immigration status for 2 days after warrantless arrest near LIRR

On January 3, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza, a 24-year-old resident of Hempstead, New York, without a judicial warrant as he was walking to the LIRR Hempstead train station. According to a class-action complaint later filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and The Legal Aid Society, Garcia Lanza held Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and deferred action — valid lawful immigration statuses — at the time of his arrest. He was taken into immigration custody and held for two days before being released.

The warrantless arrest was among a series of immigration enforcement actions documented in NYCLU v. DHS et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 8, 2026, by the NYCLU, The Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, and Covington & Burling LLP. The lawsuit names Garcia Lanza as a plaintiff and alleges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection engaged in a pattern of unlawful stops, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling of New Yorkers based on race, ethnicity, and national origin, in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Updates

2026-04-08 — Class action filed in E.D.N.Y. naming Garcia Lanza as plaintiff over warrantless arrest [1][2][3]

NYCLU, The Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, and Covington & Burling LLP filed NYCLU v. DHS et al. (E.D.N.Y.) on April 8, 2026. The complaint names Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza as a plaintiff and alleges that federal immigration agents conducted a pattern of unlawful stops, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling of New Yorkers in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.