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SAN FRANCISCO – Today, a coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations and pro bono counsel filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging its policy of courthouse arrests in Northern California and the prolonged detention of immigrants in unsafe and unlawful conditions at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) San Francisco Field Office.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit argues that federal officials are violating the law by arresting immigrants when they appear for court and holding them for days in a makeshift detention center without beds, basic hygiene supplies, medical care, or access to legal counsel.
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. In January 2025, the Trump administration abruptly rescinded these policies without a coherent rationale.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 Advocates say this practice forces immigrants to choose between attending court and risking arrest or missing court and receiving a deportation order.
The lawsuit also challenges ICE’s arbitrary decision to waive its own 12-hour limit on detention in temporary holding facilities. This policy change was enacted in service of the Trump administration's arbitrary quota of 3,000 daily arrests, with no consideration of humane alternatives.
Detainees report being held for days in small, constantly illuminated, freezing rooms without a bed, proper sanitation, medical care, or privacy. In one case cited in the filing, ICE denied a man experiencing symptoms of paralysis medical help until an attorney taught him how to ask ICE for help in English. Additionally, attorneys are generally barred from the facility after 3 PM and on weekends, and detainees must use a costly, poor-quality phone system to call for legal help, severely impeding their ability to challenge their detention.
Additional accounts of detention laid out in the suit include:
- People are forced to urinate and defecate in an open toilet in front of each other. Detainees are forced to clean the shared toilet with dry wads of toilet paper.
- People are forced to sleep on cold metal benches or directly on the floor, sometimes next to the open toilet.
- People are given nothing for warmth except a thin disposable foil blanket.
- People are held for multiple days without a change of clothes, medication, or hygiene products.
- Detainees are subjected to bright lights 24 hours a day in freezing temperatures, a combination recognized by the United Nations as a form of torture and sleep deprivation.
The plaintiffs in the case include asylum seekers who were arrested after attending their court hearings, and those with upcoming hearings who fear arrest. The lawsuit demands an immediate end to federal policies authorizing courthouse arrests and the use of hold rooms for long-term detention and concrete changes to the conditions at 630 Sansome. The case seeks to represent immigrants at risk of courthouse arrest in Northern California immigration courts and those who will be detained at the ICE San Francisco Field Office.
The plaintiffs are represented by Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU NorCal), the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF), and Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
Read the complaint.
What they're saying:
"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. 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 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." - Nisha Kashyap, Racial Justice Program Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF)
“To meet an arbitrary arrest quota, the Trump administration has rescinded a policy that protected access to immigration courts. Courthouse arrests are unlawful, deceptive, and take advantage of people's belief that they will be treated fairly in our legal system. Arresting immigrants attending their mandatory court hearings is a cruel bait-and-switch with life-changing consequences, and we are asking the court to put an end to this practice." – Lauren Davis, Legal Fellow, ACLU of Northern California
"A courthouse must be a sanctuary for the rule of law, not a space for government ambushes. ICE's courthouse arrests are intentional—they are designed to terrorize immigrants. When people become too afraid to come to court, the entire foundation of our justice system begins to crumble. We are asking the court to end this practice and restore integrity to the process."- Laura Sánchez, Immigration Legal Program Director, Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF)
"By subjecting immigrants to the inhumane conditions at 630 Sansome, the administration has violated the Fifth Amendment's core protection against punitive detention without due process. We will call on the court to end these unconstitutional practices." -Mark Hejinian, Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP
"I did what the government asked. I showed up to court. And for that, I was treated like a criminal, and thrown into a freezing cell with no bed, no medicine, and no answers. What happened to me at 630 Sansome was a nightmare. I am fighting so that no one else has to be terrified to go to court or endure such cruel treatment." -Plaintiff
"I came to this country seeking safety and a fair process. Instead, I was arrested when I left my hearing and taken to a place that feels designed to break you. The lights never turn off and the cold is unbearable. I was denied even the most basic humanity. I am speaking out because everyone deserves to have their day in court without fear and to be treated like a human being." -Plaintiff
