Overview
- The federal class action, filed Wednesday in the Eastern District of New York, names eight Latino New Yorkers and is backed by The Legal Aid Society, the NYCLU, Make the Road NY, and Covington & Burling.
- Plaintiffs say agents stopped and detained people during routine moments, including a father driving his daughter to school, a man walking to work, and a commuter waiting at a ferry terminal.
- The complaint targets the use of administrative warrants signed inside DHS, citing an ICE memo reported by the Associated Press that lets officers force entry into homes to arrest people with removal orders.
- DHS rejects the claims and cites arrest powers under 8 U.S.C. 1357, as a 2025 Supreme Court-related order let officials consider ethnicity as one factor, which left the legal rules hotly contested.
- The filing cites a surge of 2,888 arrests in the New York area in the first half of 2025, more than triple the prior period, and the plaintiffs seek court orders that could sharply curtail street and home raids in the state.