When these agents pull immigrants from the halls of these Manhattan courthouses, they are also ripping them from their shot at citizenship. Often those who are being dragged away have further court dates and appeals. Traditional due process is being snatched from them. Even for those who are not taken, the daily spectacle has left them with a profound fear. Each person who comes to these courts knows they could be next.<\/p>\n
For the Peruvian family, walking into this world meant passing under the glare of a handful of agents who flanked one of the halls. Their black masks and tactical gear made them dark shadows in the fluorescence of the cramped corridor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mother and daughter made it through their court appearance. Their next hearing was scheduled for some time in 2029. In theory, the justice system had granted them time to make their case and stay in the country. But leaving the building would not be so simple.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Agents surrounded the elevator bank in the center of the hall, encircling the Peruvian family as they waited for the ride down to the exits that would allow them to experience another day of American life outside. As the doors slid shut after they got on board, one of the masked men pressed a button to hold it up. He stepped into the cramped car and towered over the mother, who was just over five feet tall. The man stood, silently facing the woman and child. Black sunglasses made his face a reflection of the family\u2019s fear.<\/p>\n
Their ride was an agonizing wait as the threat of detention literally loomed over them. Their two hands squeezed. About halfway down the tall, grey tower, the elevator stopped and the agent exited.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I explained in Spanish that I was a reporter and that the other man left on board the elevator was a volunteer court observer named Peter Melck Kuttel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not agents. There\u2019s no ICE here now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The woman let out an audible sound, something between a gasp and a cry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very scared,\u201d the woman replied, in Spanish. \u201cVery nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The observer handed her the business card of Father Fabian Arias, one of the many religious leaders around the city who have been organizing legal clinics and other resources<\/a> for immigrants. When the elevator reached the first floor, he walked her towards the exit and encouraged her to move quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n At 26 Federal Plaza, getting out of the building means freedom. And many do not get out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since October, TPM has made multiple visits to the immigration courts in Lower Manhattan. Along with the masked agents and the deep panic they have instilled in the immigrants who are required to report to the building, we encountered elements of the Undocumented Underground<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Data compiled by local news outlets shows that courthouse detentions are uniquely prevalent<\/a> in New York. In the city, there are several organized efforts to offer immigrants at the courthouses legal assistance or simply accompaniment as they face the threat stalking the halls. Some of the groups volunteering in the courts decline to speak to the press or identify themselves for fear of retaliation. Other court observers allowed us to spend time with them and explained how they have come up with a rapid response system for addressing detentions. And this somewhat ad hoc network of advocates and activists has managed to find a key ally in Congress. They\u2019ve also won court victories that have seen multiple immigrants released and reunited with their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kuttel, a 30 year old with slicked-backed, long hair, a closely cropped beard, and a penchant for sharp plaid dress pants, is a fixture in this scene. He\u2019s at the courts pretty much every day. Currently, Kuttel is working as a full-time volunteer with Arias\u2019 church. He previously worked with New Sanctuary Coalition, an immigrant advocacy group. In one of our conversations, Kuttel explained that the court observers have discovered each of the federal agents in the halls has their own \u201cpersona\u201d and \u201cunique flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome of them are very sadistic. Some of them are just in it for the love of the game because they think that they are doing the Lord\u2019s work and that every single person they detain \u2026 is some violent criminal that they\u2019re removing from the streets and from the country,\u201d Kuttel said. \u201cThat couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n Analyses have shown<\/a> that there is an unprecedented number of people in ICE detention and about two thirds of them have no criminal convictions. Trump and his administration have said their beefed up immigration enforcement complex is aimed at the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d violent criminals, but the majority of the people caught in the teeth of his detention machinery are not criminals at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t really kind of grasp the scale of what\u2019s going on until you see it in person,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Volunteer court observer Peter Melck Kuttel<\/p>\n On board the elevator that day last month, we apparently saw an agent who has become one of the most infamous figures at 26 Federal Plaza. Kuttel explained that the regular observers have nicknamed him \u201cThe Big Guy.\u201d The reasons are obvious: The Big Guy is well over six feet tall with a wide, thick chest, which makes him easy to spot among the other masked men in the hall. Yet sheer size isn\u2019t the only reason he stands out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe likes to intimidate. He likes to get in an elevator with you,\u201d Kuttel explained. \u201cHe likes to follow people around. He likes to stare at you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier that morning, I drew The Big Guy\u2019s attention when I approached a group of six masked guards and asked for directions to the bathroom. The Big Guy stepped in front of me and looked over the notebook in my hands.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy\u2019d you write down IRS?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n I explained that I was a reporter and pointed towards one of the agents, who was wearing a vest emblazoned with \u201cIRS-CI,\u201d which is the abbreviation for the tax agency\u2019s criminal investigations unit. He was the only agent whose affiliation was identifiable. The Big Guy demanded to see my press pass.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to identify yourself,\u201d he said from behind his mask. It was unclear which agency he works for.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, both press and members of the public are allowed in 26 Federal Plaza and the courts downtown. The proceedings there are theoretically public. However, under Trump, the immigration judges he has chosen to keep amid a wave of firings, and the rule of The Big Guy and his colleagues in the halls, the reality is quickly changing. Individual courtrooms and even waiting rooms are regularly blocked to outside observers and even credentialed reporters. On the day of the elevator ride, as Kuttel stood outside the doorway of a hearing listening to the cases inside, The Big Guy ordered him to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cCome on man,\u201d The Big Guy said. \u201cYou know the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n Afterwards, I asked Kuttel what regulation he had violated.<\/p>\n \u201cNo rule whatsoever,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cRules change when ICE is around.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n A news photographer who is also a daily presence at the courts was standing nearby in the hall. The photographer agreed with Kuttel\u2019s assessment of The Big Guy.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just goes out of his way to fuck with people,\u201d the photographer said.<\/p>\n Just as the courthouse regulars have gotten to know the individual enforcement officers, the agents apparently have their eyes on the volunteers. After we left court that day, Kuttel and I were standing outside of 290 Broadway. It is another one of the downtown courthouses that\u2019s located directly across the street from 26 Federal Plaza. Kuttel was involved in a furious series of back and forth calls to see if an immigrant whose case he was working on would be able to meet with him and other advocates. Suddenly, Kuttel gestured for me to turn around.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A small woman walking next to a much larger man had wheeled around in the street, charged up to us, and was angrily staring at Kuttel.<\/p>\n \u201cCan I help you?\u201d she asked incredulously<\/p>\n \u201cYou just look familiar,\u201d he said laughing.<\/p>\n The woman huffed and turned back to go inside 26 Federal Plaza. As they walked away Kuttel explained why she had homed in on us.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s Sam,\u201d he said, adding that she was an ICE agent who had become a notorious figure for the regular court observers.\u00a0<\/p>\n I was later able to identify the woman as Samantha Camlica. Badges displaying her name and ICE affiliation are visible<\/a> in a newspaper photo showing her holding a detainee. At 26 Federal Plaza, Camlica has distinguished herself among the ICE agents for her small stature and the fact she is typically the only one who goes unmasked. She\u2019s also become known for angrily lashing out volunteers, reporters, and detainees. In one incident described to TPM she allegedly threatened to handcuff a minister who was accompanying immigrants at the courthouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s particularly aggressive and it\u2019s like she takes pleasure in being particularly aggressive,\u201d said one court observer.<\/p>\n Camlica \u2014 and her insults and \u201cvolatile\u201d behavior in the halls \u2014 featured prominently in an October New York Magazine article<\/a> that documented the stream of people being violently dragged from the courts and detained. The magazine included a picture of Camlica sucking on a lollipop. On later rotations, one court observer handed out lollipops of their own in an effort to poke fun at the ICE agent.\u00a0<\/p>\n I called Camlica on Wednesday evening. She was in no mood to comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHold on. Hold on. Hold on. How did you get this number?\u201d she asked, before abruptly hanging up. \u201cI\u2019m not talking to you.\u201d<\/p>\n After running into Camlica, Kuttel and I went to a nearby park where he broke down the \u201cseveral roles\u201d volunteers play at the immigration courts. As he discussed accompaniment, Kuttel used the language favored by New Sanctuary Coalition, which refers to the immigrants they work with as \u201cfriends.\u201d<\/p>\n For court accompaniment, volunteers meet a friend \u2014 the legal term is respondent \u2014 and \u201caccompany them in and out of the building,\u201d Kuttel said. \u201cThey become your friend for the entire day and you go in, you sit in the hearing, you help take notes, you gather documents and such, and then you help walk them out of the building, and make sure that they leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuttel distinguished this from court \u201cobservation,\u201d which he said entails watching multiple cases and \u201censuring that proper rights and proper courtroom procedure is granted.\u201d These days, Kuttel is mostly focused on what he calls \u201cpost-detention work,\u201d which involves \u201ctrying to get the legal ball rolling immediately once family separation or detention happens.\u201d The urgency involved in connecting immigrants to legal services stems from the fact the Trump administration has a tendency to rapidly move detainees out of New York. They are whisked away to other facilities in other states where judges order deportations at a much higher rate and are less likely to grant asylum. Those ICE flights also pull the immigrants away from their families and attorneys.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a clock that starts ticking,\u201d Kuttel explained. \u201cThey will be here for less than 24 hours. They\u2019ll end up in another state and it makes it very difficult to provide legal work or assistance. So, we try to connect them immediately with lawyers that can try and fill out habeas motions that can try to help stall or release the detained friend.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuttel, who is a defense contractor in the space industry, said he became \u201cengrossed\u201d in the courts after visiting Federal Plaza for work one day during the summer and seeing the masked agents. He grew more involved with various advocacy groups until he found it was \u201cwhat I wanted to do every day.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t really kind of grasp the scale of what\u2019s going on until you see it in person,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Kuttel, there is a fundamental issue as people are rounded up amid their court proceedings. Justice is being denied by the agents in the halls.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWith the agents in the hallways, there is no sanctity of court. There is no rule of law. There is simply just the iron will of the administration being imposed,\u201d Kuttel said. \u201cNo matter what the ruling of this judge is, it has no bearing on if you can walk out of there because you are already predetermined for detention. And that is wrong. That is wrong. That is not what this country is about.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For the regular court accompaniers and observers, the movements of the masked agents have become familiar. They break them down like weather patterns.\u00a0<\/p>\n During the summer and fall, there were often multiple violent detentions happening per day, the court regulars said. In more recent weeks, particularly during the government shutdown, the pace of detentions slowed. Lately, on the handful of floors in the court buildings where hearings are held, there have been days with just one or two people taken. The agents tend to clear out around lunchtime. On some days, no one is grabbed at all.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been abnormally quiet for weeks,\u201d one immigration attorney who asked to speak on background said early last month. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out what that means, but the absence of the craziness has a tension all its own. There\u2019ll be agents waiting all day, and they take just one person, and it\u2019s about being on top of that.\u201d<\/p>\n The advocates believe most of the recent detentions at 26 Federal Plaza have occurred on the building\u2019s fifth floor where immigrants are required to show up for ICE check-ins. Observers and reporters have been barred from this part of the building. They also suspect least one other floor contains a detention facility.<\/p>\n According to the volunteers, another recent trend at 26 Federal Plaza is entire families being detained at once. The brutal detentions that made headlines during the summer and fall largely involved men. More recently, the advocates say they have witnessed ICE agents quietly surrounding families and pulling them all out of the halls together.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can just feel the tension in the hallway, people screaming, and it\u2019s all over in a matter of like three or four minutes. I hear those things in my dreams.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n John Sirabella, volunteer with the New Sanctuary Coalition<\/p>\n This trend is particularly disturbing to the advocates for multiple reasons. It\u2019s unclear whether there are any detention facilities in the building that are set up to accommodate children. Both the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and the General Services Administration, which operates federal buildings, did not respond to questions about this issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kuttel also said that rounding up a whole family essentially means \u201ctheir immediate legal counsel is completely rendered null and void.\u201d In other words, if they did not share their information with one of the advocates in the halls prior to the detention, it leaves no one able to quickly follow up on their case or contact a lawyer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a dangerous tactic and unfortunately you just see it more and more now. It\u2019s policy. We\u2019re trying to react,\u201d Kuttel said.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Sirabella, a volunteer with the New Sanctuary Coalition who leads a team of volunteer court accompaniers once a week, said he has also seen this phenomenon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI had only witnessed them taking men but just last week I witnessed them taking whole families,\u201d Sirabella said early last month. \u201cThat was a first.\u201d<\/p>\n TPM reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, for comment. In an email, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin provided a statement she has previously issued denying there is a \u201cdetention center\u201d at the most prominent immigration court in Manhattan.<\/p>\n \u201c26 Federal Plaza is not a detention center. It is processing center where illegal aliens are briefly processed to be transferred to an ICE detention facility,\u201d McLaughlin said. \u201cAny claim that there is overcrowding or subprime conditions at ICE facilities are categorically false.\u201d<\/p>\n There is ample evidence of immigrants being detained at 26 Federal Plaza. In September, a federal judge Lewis Kaplan issued an order limiting the number of people that could be held at the building. In his opinion, Kaplan cited brutal conditions that were described in over a dozen affidavits<\/a> and captured in videos showing people packed in cramped rooms and laying on thin blankets placed on the floor.<\/p>\n \u201cICE has forced these detainees into facilities that are too small to accommodate the numbers, that never were intended to hold people overnight, that are unequipped to feed them properly, and that, more broadly, are not capable of housing the detainees in a humane manner,\u201d Kaplan wrote.<\/p>\n Late last month, a class of detainees filed a court motion<\/a> claiming the harsh detention conditions have continued and calling for DHS to be found in contempt.<\/p>\n McLaughlin\u2019s statement to TPM did not address questions about entire families being taken, the conduct of individual ICE agents, or the broader concerns about due process being denied by the courthouse detentions. Overall, she characterized the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policy under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as an improvement over the policies of former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n \u201cSecretary Noem is reversing Biden\u2019s catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. This Administration is once again implementing the rule of law,\u201d McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n Like the ICE agents, the court watchers have come up with their own processes and rhythms. Sirabella is a Brooklynite and retired marketing executive who volunteered with Kamala Harris\u2019 unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2024. After Trump\u2019s victory, he was searching for another way to take action.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI looked for some way of \u2014 not serving meals or something \u2014 but really helping people where rubber meets the road,\u201d Sirabella said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sirabella typically begins his weekly shifts at the court early in the morning at a nearby diner where he links up with the other volunteers who have come that day. Over coffee, Sirabella gives a quick briefing for any newcomers about what to expect inside. He warns them that the detentions can be intense.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of waiting \u2026 then it\u2019s a very explosive deal,\u201d Sirabella said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Sirabella assigns groups to each of the three courthouses. The NSC volunteers maintain an encrypted chat where they alert each other which of the buildings and floors have the most agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe all sort of communicate \u2026 any time there is an ICE presence,\u201d Sirabella explained.<\/p>\n Once inside, the volunteers introduce themselves to immigrants in the halls. They offer flyers with information about legal clinics and other resources. NSC accompaniers also encourage immigrants to provide their \u201calien numbers\u201d and sign forms allowing the volunteers to follow up on the case in the event of a detention. Working in conjunction with Kuttel, other advocates, and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who has a district office inside of 290 Broadway, the group has come up with what Sirabella describes as a \u201cstandard operating procedure\u201d in the event someone is taken from the courts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf anyone gets detained, I have steps of what you can do, including going to Dan Goldman\u2019s office,\u201d Sirabella said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a matter of timing getting them to Dan Goldman\u2019s office, because the sooner that you get there, the sooner that he can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuttel said that Goldman has been a \u201cphenomenal\u201d ally. The congressman has opened his office to immigrants as a space where they can decompress after a family member is detained. Goldman\u2019s office has also served as a de facto headquarters for advocates as they work on these cases. Kuttel describes this partnership between the activists and Goldman as a \u201chabeas machine\u201d that has filed multiple rapid-fire court motions which have resulted in immigrants being freed from detention.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside the courts, Sirabella\u2019s teams are a motley crew of clergy, retirees, and young activists. On one day in late October, he was accompanied by a Presbyterian minister and a Catholic priest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important that some of our friends see their faith leaders,\u201d Sirabella said. \u201cWe are also mindful of our non verbal presence so they see we are there to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n They try to bring volunteers with language expertise in each court, but often, the wordless presence is all they can provide.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, all it takes is just putting your hand on their shoulder,\u201d Sirabella said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In one of the waiting rooms, the minister sat with a Haitian couple who was nervously awaiting a hearing. The woman was an American citizen and she had met her boyfriend at the church they both attend. They were desperate to stay together. As the man sat, taut, the minister put an arm around him and they prayed together.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou know the word mercy in our Christian tradition?\u201d the minister asked. \u201cSometimes we ask for mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, NSC sent a pair of older women into 26 Federal Plaza. One of them was a retired philosophy professor who described the routine of walking people out of the building and returning upstairs as \u201crinse and repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n The other volunteer, who said her name was Hutton, had commuted to Manhattan from Connecticut on board a 6 a.m. train. Hutton said that she was motivated to get involved at the courts when she witnessed the firsthand impacts of\u00a0 Trump rolling back Temporary Protected Status to migrants from unstable countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI taught an ESL class, and I had, like, 20 Haitians, and they all went underground. I wondered if I could do something,\u201d Hutton explained, adding, \u201cI hope they\u2019re in hiding. I hope they\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n There are periodic scenes of humanity amid the tension and aggression in the halls. Many children come to the courts with their parents. As I sat in one of the waiting rooms in late October, I saw a little boy climbing on a chair and playing with a toy car. He seemed to have no sense of the potential danger that awaited his family in the halls outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite putting on a brave face for his son, the boy\u2019s father was clearly conscious of the threat. He whispered just two words when I asked how he was feeling.<\/p>\n \u201cVery scared,\u201d he said in Spanish.<\/p>\n The man told me they were from Venezuela and had spent 20 hours traveling on a bus from another state to make this court date. When they went before the judge, he moved their next court date to their new home state. They were free to go and ostensibly allowed to continue with their asylum application. Of course, at 26 Federal Plaza, that judge\u2019s order may have been meaningless. The family still had to make it past ICE and out of the building. I walked with them down the hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n It felt interminably long. The father stared straight ahead. As we passed the masked shadows along the wall, the boy showed me pages from a coloring book where he had drawn pictures of animals and trucks. I smiled at him and then looked up at the agents searching for some reaction or insight into how they felt looming over a child whose day would otherwise be filled with cars and crayons. They offered none.<\/p>\n This time, when the family boarded the elevator, no one joined us. The father let loose a deep sigh and his shoulders dropped. It would be another 20-hour bus ride home, but the worst part of their journey was over.<\/p>\n Back upstairs, another pair of boys were playing with toys and drawing in the back of a courtroom as their father sat before Judge John J. Siemietkowski. Through a Spanish interpreter, Siemietkowski shared some of his \u201cexperiences\u201d with the man and the other immigrants in the room.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to mention a program that has been around for a while but has become more popular in recent months. There\u2019s a program called voluntary departure. As the name implies, it means you voluntarily leave the United States as opposed to being put on an ICE plane and taken somewhere,\u201d Siemietkowski said.<\/p>\n The judge went on to explain who might benefit from this program, which he noted generally provided three to four months for a participant to get their affairs in order before leaving the country. As he walked through the theoretical legal options, Siemietkowski acknowledged they do not necessarily work as advertised in the current environment.<\/p>\n \u201cI mention this for people who think they have a weak asylum claim,\u201d the judge said. \u201cIt\u2019s also being used for people who are afraid of being arrested by ICE, although it doesn\u2019t necessarily stop ICE from arresting anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Siemietkowski acknowledged arrests and detentions are, as he put it, \u201ca cold topic to discuss.\u201d They\u2019re also a serious possibility, given the large backlog of asylum cases and fact that pending applicants for this legal status have been targeted by Trump\u2019s deportation machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t avoid it,\u201d Siemietkowski said, addressing the potential for detention. \u201cRealistically, you\u2019re not going to have a full asylum case, at least not here in New York, probably until the year 2030. \u2026 Our court as a whole has about 265,000 cases. I\u2019ve got about 6,000 of those.\u201d<\/p>\n As the translator parroted his words, the judge went on to outline elements of a successful asylum case. He stressed that applicants must show they are living in danger of persecution for \u201ca protected reason.\u201d Siemietkowski explained that this typically couldn\u2019t be fear of high crime rates or domestic abuse. He also stressed that it would help if the applicant is able to show they sought help from local law enforcement. The judge then explained that applicants should prove they were being targeted for \u201cpolitical opinion\u201d or their \u201cethnic background.\u201d He gave a hypothetical example of someone being beaten as their antagonists shouted, \u201cyou stupid indigenous, go back to the mountains where you belong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you understand the difference between the specific examples and crime?\u201d Siemietkowski\u00a0 asked the boys\u2019 father.\u00a0<\/p>\n The man quietly nodded in assent.<\/p>\n \u201cGood, good,\u201d Siemietkowski said before telling the man his next hearing was set for August 2026.<\/p>\n The judge directed the man to get his paperwork from the court officer. Then, he sent the family back out of the room to face the agents in the halls.<\/p>\n As the judge dismissed them, one of the boys lifted up a Spiderman figure for the room to see. His gesture caught Siemietkowski\u2019s eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI almost forgot something important,\u201d the judge said. \u201cHave the two young men made me any pictures?\u201d<\/p>\n He called the boys up to the bench and displayed their work. The drawings showed their hero, Spiderman, leaping through the air.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWow, look at this young man\u2019s drawing,\u201d Siemietkowski said. \u201cHow about some appreciation for our young Picasso?\u201d<\/p>\n The crowd seated before the judge clapped. Then the sweet gestures came to an end. The man and his boys were sent out to the mercy of ICE. Afterwards, I talked about what we had just seen with Kuttel, who pointed out the judge\u2019s kindness has a concrete limit.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSiemietkowski has been really sweet. He\u2019s really nice,\u201d Kuttel said. \u201cI just wish he had a better approval rating for asylum cases.\u201d<\/p>\n Data compiled by Syracuse University\u2019s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows Siemietkowski has denied 63.3% of the asylum cases<\/a> that have come before him. That\u2019s a slightly higher than average denial rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2229095756.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
People protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside of the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2233846817.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Masked ICE agents stalk the corridors and elevators at 26 Federal Plaza. (Photo by Selcuk Acar\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2230304896.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
A family waits to enter immigration court as federal agents patrol the halls at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2236977621.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
The family of a detained Ecuadorian man cries in the elevators at Federal Plaza (Photo by Stephanie Keith\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2234369433.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
People wait to enter the New York field office of ICE (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2233561063.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
People leave their court hearings at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building. According to data from the Deportation Data Project, ICE has deported more than three times the number of immigrant New Yorkers who were removed in all of last year, mostly driven by driven by detainments at 26 Federal Plaza. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One day last month, a Peruvian mother and her daughter went into Manhattan. They were both dressed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[419,153,1106,2301,31471,35617,9,24,55,54,56,9875,35618],"class_list":{"0":"post-68724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-courts","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-features","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-immigration-judges","13":"tag-mass-deportation","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","17":"tag-new-york-city-news","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-undocumented-immigrants","20":"tag-undocumented-underground"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68724","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=68724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}