Nisha Kashyap, the Racial Justice Program Director for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a press release that “arresting people when they come to court is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, not a constitutional democracy.”
Immigrant rights’ advocates have filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s controversial policy of detaining migrants inside of courthouses.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the lawsuit was filed in federal court earlier this week. In it, attorneys for the class claim that the government is violating the law by detaining immigrants when they appear for court-scheduled hearings, sometimes holding them in unsanitary conditions for days afterward.
In a press release announcing the claim, the ACLU notes that the Trump administration’s actions are, in the context of modern American governance and immigration policy, largely without precedent.
“For decades, presidential administrations of both parties prohibited civil immigration arrests in and around courthouses to ensure individuals could access the justice system without fear,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a news release.
“In January 2025, the Trump administration abruptly rescinded these policies without a coherent rationale. Since then, ICE agents have been conducting aggressive arrests immediately after immigration hearings, even of individuals pursuing asylum claims,” the ACLU said. “Advocates say this practice forces immigrants to choose between attending court and risking arrest or missing court and receiving a deportation order.”
The lawsuit itself alleges that migrants, when held, are often forced to endure unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. Detainees have, for instance, reported having to “urinate and defecate in open toilet[s]” in front of one another. Many holding facilities also reportedly lack effective climate control, with migrants saying that they’re made to sleep on “cold metal benches or directly on the floor, sometimes next to an open toilet” with “nothing for warmth except a thin disposable foil blanket.”
Nisha Kashyap, the Racial Justice Program Director for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a related release that “arresting people when they come to court is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, not a constitutional democracy.”
“It undermines the very foundation of our legal system,” Kashyap said. “The plaintiffs in this case include community members who are following the law by coming to court, only to be arrested. Coupled with the horrific conditions at [the immigration facility located at] 630 Sansome, these policies represent a profound breakdown of the rule of law. We have filed this lawsuit to demand the court restore basic human dignity and constitutional order.”
The class is being represented by attorneys from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the ACLU of Northern California, the Central American Resource Center of Northern California, and the private law firm of Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
Sources
Bay Area Immigrant Advocates Sue the Trump Administration to End Courthouse Arrests
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