[ARCHIVED - September 2025]
Starting in May 2025, the government began implementing a new campaign of courthouse arrests across the country that have resulted in the arrest, detention, and expedited deportation of potentially thousands of people who appeared for scheduled immigration court hearings. Immigrants showed up at their hearings only to have the government attorney representing DHS move to dismiss their removal proceedings. After dismissal, ICE enforcement agents waiting nearby would arrest and detain the noncitizen to process them for expedited removal proceedings. Expedited removal is a process by which low-level DHS officers can summarily deport certain undocumented noncitizens without an immigration court hearing or any judicial review.
On July 16, 2025, twelve individuals who have been arrested at court hearings in this way, along with organizational plaintiffs Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative (Immigrant ARC) and American Gateways, filed this class action lawsuit to end the policies and collusion between DHS and DOJ that have led to these widespread arrests. Plaintiffs are represented by National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), Democracy Forward, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Legal Education and Services (RAICES), and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF).
Plaintiffs—on behalf of themselves and others similarly-situated—allege that the policies (authorizing civil immigration arrests in immigration courts; instructing DHS prosecutors to bring, and immigration judges to grant, motions to dismiss; and instructing DHS to pursue expedited removal for these individuals) are unlawful in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, and other federal statutes and regulations.
Technical Summary
Plaintiffs bring 11 claims for relief challenging guidance on courthouse arrests, dismissal of removal proceedings, expedited removal, and concurrent expedited removal and full removal proceedings. They allege that all of these policies are arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). With regard to dismissal guidance, they also allege that the policies violate INA provisions regarding the procedures afforded noncitizens in full removal proceedings, and that they violate the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. With regard to the expedited removal policies - specifically policies that expand expedited removal to cover people present in the U.S. more than two years - they allege that Defendants are violating the expedited removal statute and DHS’s own regulations as well. And with regard to guidance permitting concurrent expedited removal and full removal proceedings, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants are violating the INA in addition to the APA.
Plaintiffs seek preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and declaratory relief for themselves and the purported classes. Plaintiffs seek to represent two classes of noncitizens: (1) those who were, or are in the future, arrested by DHS at or near an immigration courthouse on the day of their immigration hearing; and (2) those whose removal proceedings were, or are in the future, dismissed without their consent.
Latest Updates
- 07/16/2025
