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SAN FRANCISCO – Immigrants’ rights legal organizations and pro bono counsel today announced the filing of two motions seeking preliminary orders in their ongoing federal class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
The latest motion, filed today, seeks a “stay” to put on hold ICE’s rescission of its policy of abstaining from arresting immigrants appearing at courthouses for their immigration hearings, and to put on hold the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) parallel policy that now enables ICE to use immigration courthouses for this purpose. A second, separate motion for preliminary injunction and stay, filed last Friday, October 10, aims to stop the overnight detention of immigrants in unsafe and unlawful conditions in holding cells meant for only brief detention, including at ICE’s San Francisco Field Office.
The motion for preliminary injunction and stay filed today challenges ICE and EOIR policies that abruptly ended a decades-long bipartisan practice of prohibiting civil immigration arrests in and around courthouses. This change, enacted by the Trump administration in January 2025, has turned immigration courts into sites of fear.
The Trump administration’s courthouse arrest policy forces immigrants to choose between attending their mandatory court hearings and risking arrest or missing court and receiving an automatic deportation order. This has led to a surge in absenteeism, undermining the immigration system. The motion for preliminary injunction filed today argues the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act, as it reverses a longstanding practice without a reasoned explanation and fails to consider the severe chilling effect on access to justice.
The motion for preliminary injunction filed on October 10 targets ICE’s decision to waive its own 12-hour limit on detention in temporary “hold rooms,” including at ICE’s San Francisco Field Office at 630 Sansome Street. This allows ICE to jail people for up to 72 hours or more in facilities not designed for overnight stays.
This motion also argues the conditions are punitive and violate the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, and that the 12-hour waiver policy is arbitrary and capricious and violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The filing includes numerous declarations describing horrific conditions at the 630 Sansome St. facility that fall below constitutional standards:
- Sleep Deprivation: People are forced to sleep on cold metal benches or the floor, sometimes near an open toilet, with only a thin Mylar foil blanket for warmth. Lights are kept on 24 hours a day in freezing temperatures.
- Medical Neglect: There is no medical screening, and critical prescription medications are routinely denied. Plaintiff Martin Hernandez Torres suffered a hypertensive crisis and potential stroke after being deprived of his blood pressure medication.
- Unsanitary and Humiliating Conditions: Detainees must use an open toilet in full view of others and are not provided adequate cleaning supplies, hygiene products, showers, or a change of clothes.
The plaintiffs in the case include asylum seekers who were arrested after attending their court hearings and who have endured the conditions at the 630 Sansome facility. A hearing on their motion to represent similarly situated immigrants is set for October 30 before a federal court in San Jose. The plaintiffs are represented by Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU NorCal), and Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
Attorney Quotes:
“The administration is using courthouses as bait for immigrants seeking asylum and dragging them to a makeshift jail as punishment, despite them engaging in no wrongdoing whatsoever,” said Marissa Hatton, senior staff attorney at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. “With these motions for preliminary injunction, we are asking the Court to stop ICE from using the courthouse as a trap and to immediately address the inhumane conditions inside the cells at 630 Sansome while our case moves forward.”
“ICE is targeting immigrants who have followed the rules while they lawfully pursue an opportunity to stay in the country. We are asking the court to end the administration’s illegal policy so that people can attend their mandatory court hearings without fear of being arrested and detained," said Lauren Davis, legal fellow at the ACLU of Northern California.
“Our clients followed the rules, appearing in court as the government ordered, only to be ambushed and then subjected to conditions that no human being should ever endure,” said Laura Sanchez, litigation director at Central American Resource Center of Northern California. “The law requires more than this. It requires basic human dignity, and we are confident the court will agree that these practices cannot continue.”
“The courage of our plaintiffs in the face of such calculated hardship is a beacon for all of us. They are not just seeking relief for themselves, but for thousands of others. Their bravery is a powerful reminder that dignity is not a privilege but a right that cannot be waived by any government memo. We stand with them in demanding justice,” said Mark Hejinian, partner at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
