ICE arrested Guatemalan man at New York City immigration court in defiance of federal court orders, including a June 23 nationwide ban
On June 30, 2026, ICE agents arrested a Guatemalan man at the New York City immigration court at 290 Broadway, in what lawyers described as a continuing violation of two federal court orders barring such arrests: a May 18 order from the Southern District of New York covering three Manhattan courts, and a June 23 nationwide order from a federal court in California. The man was transferred to an out-of-state detention facility. The arrest came four days after ICE agents arrested two other immigrants at New York City immigration courts in apparent defiance of the same orders.
Part of: ICE Defiance of Federal Court Orders
Actors
On June 30, 2026, ICE agents arrested a Guatemalan man at the immigration court at 290 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, in what lawyers described as a continuing violation of two active federal court orders prohibiting arrests at New York City immigration courts. The man was subsequently transferred to a detention facility in another state.
The arrest came in defiance of two court orders: a May 18, 2026 order from U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in the Southern District of New York barring ICE from making arrests at three Manhattan immigration courts except in a narrow set of circumstances, and a June 23, 2026 nationwide order from a federal court in California extending that prohibition broadly. It followed by four days the arrests of an Ecuadorian man and a Dominican man at New York City immigration courts on June 26, which lawyers said were the first serious violations of the orders. An ICE spokesperson denied violating any court order but offered no explanation of how the arrests fit the exceptions permitted by the orders.
Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY) said ICE was "flagrantly violating the law" over the pattern of courthouse arrests. The man had appeared voluntarily in compliance with his mandatory immigration hearing schedule; unlike two earlier arrestees in May who were swiftly released after advocates invoked the court order, he was transferred to a distant facility and not quickly released.
Why we recorded this
Federal court orders carry binding legal authority; when executive agencies defy them repeatedly, it establishes that the executive treats judicial authority over its enforcement conduct as optional. A federal court had barred ICE from arresting immigrants at Manhattan immigration courts except in narrow circumstances; a California court extended that protection nationwide on June 23, 2026. This arrest, of a man attending a mandatory hearing who was transferred to a distant detention facility, followed by days two other courthouse arrests in apparent defiance of the same orders. This archive records each violation to establish the scope and frequency of the agency's defiance.
Sources
- ICE Arrests Immigrants at New York Courts, Flouting Federal Judge Order — The Intercept primary accessed July 1, 2026
See also
- ICE deports Adelanto hunger-strike organizer Kyon Swaso to Belize after no-notice out-of-state transfers
- ICE arrested two immigrants at New York City immigration courts in defiance of federal court orders, including a June 23 nationwide ban
- ICE officer Travis Erdman defied federal court order protecting Iowa student-visa holder; judge found civil contempt
- ICE re-arrests El Gamal family at first check-in, attempts deportation in defiance of federal release order
- ICE flew a 2-year-old and her father to Texas despite a court order to release the toddler