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Judge Brown Rejects DOJ Reconsideration Motion in ICE Arrest Case

Published
Score
12

Why it matters

A federal judge in the Eastern District of New York has rejected the Department of Justice's motion to reconsider an earlier ruling against ICE, instead using the government's own request to demand a substantive compliance plan. Judge Brown identified four distinct constitutional and statutory violations by ICE agents: an administrative warrant issued after arrest, revocation of the petitioner's deferred action status without explanation, and systematic obstruction of detainee access to counsel. The judge gave DOJ 21 days to detail how it would remedy the violations. The government's reconsideration motion offered no meaningful response, prompting the judge to characterize the DOJ's arguments as frivolous, misleading, and meritless.

The petitioner's identity remains sealed. The specifics of how ICE violated the administrative warrant requirement and the precise legal basis for the deferred action revocation have not been detailed in available rulings.

This decision fits a pattern of recent judicial skepticism toward ICE enforcement practices. A Trump-appointed judge in Minnesota issued a temporary restraining order against ICE for blocking detainee access to counsel, and an Illinois judge has addressed improper freezes of grant funds. For immigration practitioners, the ruling signals that courts are actively scrutinizing ICE's procedural compliance and that deficient government responses to judicial orders may trigger escalating judicial pressure rather than acceptance. Attorneys representing detained immigrants should monitor whether this decision influences how other courts treat similar constitutional claims against ICE.

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