Biden administration limits ICE arrests at courthouses

On April 27, 2021, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ICE acting director Tae Johnson, and CBP acting commissioner Troy Miller limited civil immigration arrests in or near courthouses. The memo allowed arrests only for narrow threats such as national security, imminent violence, hot pursuit, or evidence destruction because DHS said courthouse arrests chilled access to hearings and made witnesses and families afraid to appear. The policy restored a court-access safeguard that later became the baseline for lawsuits challenging Trump-era courthouse arrests (DHS memo; CBP; NPR; Axios; Immigrant Defense Project).