A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests at courthouses in New York state are illegal.
The decision by Judge Jed Rakoff from the Southern District of New York immediately ends a policy from the Trump Administration that allowed ICE agents into case proceedings.
“The Court declares ICE’s policy of courthouse arrests, as now embodied in the Directive, to be illegal,” Rakoff wrote in Wednesday’s opinion, according to NBC News.
The suit was filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez last September and sought to end three years of arrests by ICE agents in and around state courts.
“Our victory over the Trump Administration’s over-policing policies ensures the important work happening in local courts will continue undeterred without the targeting of immigrants seeking access to our courts,” James said in a statement.
“By allowing federal agents to interfere with state and local cases, the Trump Administration endangered the safety of every New Yorker, while targeting immigrants.”