ICE arrests – Less than 24 hours after a federal judge ordered ICE to pause immigration arrests in New York City civil immigration courts, agents arrested Vinely Alexander Castillo-Norales during a routine check-in, held him for only a few hours, and released him. His attor
The day after a federal judge told Immigration and Customs Enforcement to stop making immigration arrests in New York City civil immigration courts—except in rare situations—ICE went ahead and arrested a man at a standard court check-in.
Vinely Alexander Castillo-Norales, 21, was taken into custody and then released only hours later.
Attorneys representing Castillo-Norales said the arrest showed ICE’s “utter contempt for the rule of law.” The Department of Homeland Security. ICE’s parent agency. denied it had violated the court order. It did not answer questions about what legal authority it relied on to arrest him. In a statement. a DHS spokesperson said. “ICE did NOT violate any court orders. ” adding that “Nothing prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them. especially illegal alien gang members.”.
The sequence has intensified the fight now playing out in federal court over whether immigration enforcement can proceed in ways that undercut judicial limits—especially when judges step in to halt specific arrest practices while lawsuits move forward.
Castillo-Norales came to the United States as a child pursuing asylum and lived for years in the country. A court filing from the New York Legal Assistance Group. or NYLAG. said he has not had any criminal convictions and has “dutifully” attended immigration court hearings. On Tuesday. immigration agents arrested him after a standard court check-in even though no immigration judge had found him to be a flight risk or a danger to community safety. according to NYLAG’s filing.
That arrest came after Judge P. Kevin Castel of the Southern District of New York issued an order on Monday pausing all ICE arrests in immigration courthouses, with rare exceptions, while a lawsuit plays out.
Castel’s decision reversed his own earlier ruling from earlier this year. The reversal followed a concession from attorneys for the federal government. who admitted that a legal memo used to justify arresting hundreds of people in civil immigration court actually didn’t apply to immigration courts at all.
Even with Castel’s Monday pause, there are exceptions. The order allows arrests in limited circumstances, such as to prevent an imminent risk of violence. It also permits an arrest if there is “no safe alternative” and a designated official signs off on it.
Yet DHS did not specify what authority it believed it had to arrest Castillo-Norales in the moments after that order went into effect.
In the aftermath of the arrest and release, NYLAG criticized the government’s stance. “Arresting anyone on unfounded claims subverts the rule of law and could have a lasting impact on everyone’s civil liberties,” Chloe Chik, a spokesperson for NYLAG, said.
Before Castillo-Norales’ release on Tuesday. NYLAG had already challenged his detention in a habeas corpus petition—one of many such filings people in immigration detention have brought in the Trump second term. In that petition, NYLAG argued the arrest “was in direct violation” of Castel’s order. It also argued the arrest violated a decision from the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. which covers New York and other Northeastern states.
The 2nd Circuit ruling concerned the Trump administration’s position that it could jail potentially millions of people in immigration proceedings without bond. even when they have not been found to be a danger to the community or a flight risk. With multiple appeals courts split on that policy, the dispute is widely expected to end up before the Supreme Court.
Castillo-Norales’ brief detention shaped what could happen next. ICE released him after just a few hours in custody. before the federal judge handling his wrongful detention case. John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York. could do anything other than schedule a hearing for Wednesday morning. court records showed.
Once he was released, his legal team asked Koeltl to cancel the hearing. The request, according to court records, was consented to by counsel for respondents—the federal government. Koeltl agreed and canceled the hearing.
ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement Vinely Alexander Castillo-Norales P. Kevin Castel John G. Koeltl NYLAG habeas corpus Southern District of New York 2nd Circuit Supreme Court immigration arrests Trump administration Department of Homeland Security
So they got a judge to say stop and they just… didn’t. Cool.
“Nothing prohibits arresting a lawbreaker where you find them” is such a wild sentence to me. Like where’s the pause part the judge ordered then? If he didn’t get a ruling, why’s ICE doing it anyway.
I’m confused because it says it was a “routine check-in” but then they arrest him and only hold him a few hours. That sounds more like politics than actual immigration enforcement, but I guess that’s still enforcement. Also “illegal alien gang members” seems kinda like they’re assuming things.
They released him fast so it’s probably fine? Like the point was to scare him and then let him go, right? I don’t know why the judge got involved if ICE can just claim “authority” later. Feels like the courts lose either way, and meanwhile people are gonna cherry pick whatever headline makes them mad.