ICE Forced to Rein In Two Controversial Tactics Within 24 Hours - Newsweek

Within the past 24 hours, federal immigration agents were told to change two of their tactics for targeting alleged illegal immigrants in recent days, with a judge seeking to end detentions outside immigration court and ICE's executive associate director issuing a policy memo altering traffic stops.

The changes could have a major effect on how agents target those in the U.S. without legal status, but who do not necessarily have criminal records, with ICE having heavily targeted immigration courts where immigrants are facing hearings on their cases, leading to a steep rise in detentions.

The agency, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has also come under scrutiny for its use of vehicle stops and high-speed chases, with some incidents leading to injuries. Last week, an immigrant in Austin was shot in the back after fleeing federal agents who had stopped him as he made a DoorDash delivery.

Newsweek reached out to DHS for comment via email Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday, a federal judge in New York ruled that ICE could not continue to detain people at immigration court anywhere in the country.

Judge P. Kevin Castel, an appointee of George W. Bush, ruled in New York Thursday that a Trump administration-era policy of arresting immigrants at their court hearings was "arbitrary and capricious."

"People should not be arrested for doing exactly what the legal system requires of them," Oscar Sarabia Roman, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a press release. "They should be able to come to court, take part in their cases, and leave without fear."

In 2025, a policy enacted during President Joe Biden's term to prevent agents from making arrests at courthouses was revoked, leading to detentions at both criminal courts and immigration courts.

That change was quickly challenged by immigrant advocates, who argued that federal agents should not be allowed to wait outside hearings waiting to detain people.

In March, the Department of Justice said the administration had erroneously used the 2025 memo to justify immigration court arrests, with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York writing that the DOJ deeply regretted the error.

Castel criticized the Trump administration Thursday, saying there were no records indicating ICE had changed its policy, with the 2025 guidance never mentioning a change in courthouse arrests.

"The most likely explanation for this silence is that the position expressed in 2026, i.e., that immigration courts were never within the scope of the 2025 Policies, was a recent invention and not the intent at the time of the issuance of the 2025 Policies," the judge wrote.

While he did not rule the policy itself unlawful, Castel ordered that the 2025 policies be pulled back, effectively putting the Biden-era protections back in place around immigration courts.

"Today’s ruling is an enormous win for every noncitizen seeking to safely attend their immigration court proceedings," Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants’ Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a press release. "For too long, we watched masked, often armed, ICE officers ambush noncitizens in courthouse hallways, throw immigrants to the ground, and tear sobbing children from their parents. But with today’s order, the Court made clear: ICE’s cruel, unjustified policy of conducting mass immigration arrests in courthouses is unlawful and cannot stand."

A policy memo seen by The Associated Press Thursday showed agents had been told Wednesday to stop high-speed chases and only engage in vehicle stops once they have completed specific training.

The memo, signed by ICE executive associate director Marcos D. Charles, includes steps meant to improve the safety of vehicle stops for ICE agents, as well as the drivers they are targeting, and others in the cars or nearby.

ICE field office directors were told they must ensure agents are using federal vehicles with lights and sirens that are activated, so that the public knows law enforcement is involved in a stop, and all officers must wear and use their body-worn cameras.

Five agency-specific training courses are also available for agents to complete, and only those who have completed at least one may carry out a vehicle stop, the memo said. Only those who have received certain training can continue using so-called "pinning," where an agent uses their vehicle to trap or stop a car.

The change, which ICE was said to have downplayed as a regular adjustment, comes after Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot by a federal agent following a traffic stop, which he later fled in Austin, Texas.

Garces Perez was charged earlier this week with allegedly assaulting, resisting, interfering, and impeding a federal officer. The complaint included stills from the body camera of one of the federal agents involved in the initial vehicle stop, but not from the agent who allegedly shot him after a high-speed chase.

ICE has received funding for agents to be equipped with body-worn cameras, but the technology's rollout has been relatively slow, with DHS saying the federal government shutdown earlier this year was to blame. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have urged the agency to quickly get the kit in place, for increased accountability and transparency.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R. Thomas