DOJ Blames ICE for ‘Regrettable Error’ in Immigration Suit (1)

US Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that they’ve been relying on incorrect information for months in a fight over the Trump administration’s migrant arrest tactics, and blamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the “regrettable error.”

In a letter filed Tuesday night, the US attorney’s office in Manhattan said it would withdraw arguments it made over the past year defending civil migrant arrests at US immigration courts based on May 2025 ICE guidance. Although the government isn’t dropping its defense against the lawsuit altogether, the revelation could hurt its case going forward.

Lawyers representing advocacy groups challenging the immigration court arrests told the judge in a letter on Wednesday that the “extraordinary” admission by the government could have “far-reaching” consequences. They said that the judge relied on the government’s now-retracted representations in denying a request to temporarily block the policy in September while the case went forward.

The US attorney’s office acknowledged in its letter to US District Judge P. Kevin Castel that the September decision “will need to be reconsidered and re-briefed” as the judge weighs the merits of the fight.

On Thursday, Castel ordered the US attorney’s office and ICE to preserve copies of their internal communications related to the 2025 memo and the litigation, a sign that he may probe what happened.

Government lawyers told Castel that ICE told them in the past that the memo — which offers the agency’s rationale for civil arrests of migrants at courthouses — applied to immigration courts. But they learned this week that the agency was now saying that it did not, and never had.

The Justice Department lawyers blamed “agency attorney error,” and said they’d gotten approval from an ICE counsel before submitting written briefs and making statements in court.

“We deeply regret that this error has come to light at this late stage, after the parties have expended significant resources and time to litigate this case and this court has carefully considered plaintiffs’ challenge to the 2025 ICE guidance,” the Justice Department attorneys wrote. “This error, however, was not caused by a lack of diligence and care by the undersigned attorneys.”

The 2025 ICE memo was part of an effort by the Trump administration to roll back Biden administration policies that limited immigration enforcement actions in and around courthouses.

The Department of Homeland Security released a statement that “there is no change in policy” and that agents “will continue to arrest illegal aliens at immigration courts following their proceedings.”

A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office declined to comment.

The case is African Communities Together v. Lyons, 25-cv-6366, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

(Updates with judge’s order and DHS statement.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Elizabeth Wasserman, Steve Stroth

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