{"id":207864,"date":"2026-04-24T00:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207864\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:12:20","slug":"ice-blocking-access-to-nyc-immigration-courts-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207864\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE blocking access to NYC immigration courts: Advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014 Court observers and migrant advocates in New York are accusing the Trump administration <\/a>of restricting public access to immigration court proceedings<\/a>, including harassing observers out of courtrooms and seizing \u201cknow your rights\u201d materials at a federal courthouse.<\/p>\n

The group appeared for a preliminary conference in federal court Tuesday, arguing their First Amendment rights were violated by the Justice Department, the General Services Administration, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

Attorney Stephen Kelly, one of the plaintiffs, told NewsNation that ICE agents and courthouse security have increasingly harassed or removed people offering support to migrants.<\/p>\n

Social media users critical of immigration crackdown targeted by DHS subpoenas <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the people that are being very aggressively targeted by both building security and by ICE and agents of other federal agencies, and at the same time that\u2019s going on, you\u2019ve got judges locking the public out of courtrooms, so we have actually no idea what is going on inside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ICE, DHS and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment by NewsNation.<\/p>\n

Immigration court hearings are generally open to the public under the Executive Office for\u00a0Immigration Review\u2019s rules<\/a>, with limited exceptions, such as to protect witnesses or parties.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hostile, intimidating, and militarized\u2019 environment surrounding immigration hearings: complaint<\/p>\n

Kelly, who is joined in the lawsuit by a member of the clergy, a journalist, a psychologist and community volunteers, described what the filing calls an \u201cincreasingly hostile, intimidating, and militarized\u201d environment inside the courthouse. The complaint accuses federal agents and security personnel of regularly patrolling hallways and waiting areas in tactical gear, at times carrying military-style weapons.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs say access to the courthouse has changed significantly since June 2025 and are seeking an injunction to address what they describe as \u201csystematic restrictions on public access to immigration court proceedings at 26 Federal Plaza\u201d and to restore public access.<\/p>\n

According to court filings, the group alleges court employees and judges improperly barred the public from proceedings that are typically open, while federal agents prevented individuals from speaking with immigrants, removed people distributing \u201cknow your rights\u201d materials and engaged in harassment in publicly accessible areas.<\/p>\n

No-bond detentions spark \u2018unprecedented\u2019 flood of legal challenges <\/a><\/p>\n

The filing further claims agents confiscated materials based on their content and ejected individuals for defying verbal instructions not to discuss legal or social services for immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly every active courtroom is locked against public entry, typically with a court employee stationed inside to admit only respondents,\u201d the filing states.<\/p>\n

Kelly said the injunction seeks to \u201crestore what should never have been taken away: open courtrooms, the public\u2019s ability to observe proceedings, and community members\u2019 right to provide lawful, non-disruptive support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Religious support was allegedly turned away<\/p>\n

The filing also describes specific incidents. In one, Kelly says that after a hearing, he was explaining the outcome to a client and a priest when agents allegedly rushed them in the hallway, pushed him aside and detained his client.<\/p>\n

In another, plaintiff Father Fabian Arias said he has been turned away from courtroom doors dozens of times while performing his ministry and ordered out of proceedings at least 20 times. He said officers have also instructed him not to speak with individuals seeking his support, even in public hallways and waiting areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the government is doing something to dissuade your legally protected activities in such a way that would deter a person of ordinary firmness, then that government action is disallowed under the First Amendment,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NewsNation) \u2014 Court observers and migrant advocates in New York are accusing the Trump administration of restricting public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82403,2300,9197,3534,30426,9198,12242,1082,9,9062,56,63,65,64,32635,82402],"class_list":{"0":"post-207864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-court-proceedings","9":"tag-department-of-homeland-security","10":"tag-federal-agents","11":"tag-federal-court","12":"tag-general-services-administration","13":"tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","14":"tag-immigration-court","15":"tag-justice-department","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-newsnation","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-nyc-headlines","21":"tag-nyc-news","22":"tag-public-access","23":"tag-stephen-kelly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}