Pablo Sequen v. Albarran (ICE Courthouse Arrests & Detention Conditions)
On September 18, 2025, a coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations and pro bono counsel filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging its policy of courthouse arrests and the prolonged detention of immigrants in unsafe and unlawful conditions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) in facilities designed and intended only to hold people for brief periods.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit argues that federal officials violated the law when they changed their policies to allow ICE to arrest immigrants when they appear at immigration court for mandatory hearings in their immigration cases.
The lawsuit also challenges ICE’s practice of holding immigrants in a makeshift detention center without beds, basic hygiene supplies, medical care, or access to legal counsel, and ICE’s arbitrary decision to waive its own 12-hour limit on detention in temporary holding facilities. This policy change was enacted in service of the Trump administration’s quota of 3,000 daily arrests, with no consideration of humane alternatives.
The lawsuit demands concrete changes to the conditions at 630 Sansome and an immediate end to federal policies authorizing courthouse arrests and the use of hold rooms for long-term detention. The plaintiffs seek to represent immigrants at risk of courthouse arrest in Northern California immigration courts and those who will be detained at the ICE San Francisco Field Office.
The plaintiffs in the case include asylum seekers who were arrested after attending their court hearings, and those with upcoming hearings who fear arrest. The plaintiffs are represented by Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU NorCal), the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF), and Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
Important Documents
Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Stay (Detention Conditions)
Motion for Stay (Courthouse Arrests)
Denial of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit
Preliminary Injunction Order Granted on Nov 25 2025 (Detention Conditions)
Stay Granted on Dec 24, 2025 (Courthouse Arrests)
In the News
El Tecolote: Trump administration sued over San Francisco ICE courthouse arrests, detentions link
Axios: Civil rights groups sue over ICE courthouse arrests link
San Francisco Chronicle: Lawsuit says ICE’s S.F. detainees are held for days in freezing cells without beds link
KQED: Bay Area Immigrant Advocates Sue the Trump Administration to End Courthouse Arrests link
Sacramento Bee: ICE holds immigrants in cold, ‘filthy’ and crowded cells in California, suit says link
KTVU: San Francisco ICE holding rooms are ‘squalid,’ inhumane: lawsuit link
San Francisco Chronicle: Lawsuit targets ICE arrests at immigration courthouses link
Sacramento Bee: Immigrants contest Northern California courthouse arrests, detention conditions link
Davis Vanguard: Lawsuit Challenges Unlawful ICE Courthouse Arrests link
Fresno Bee: ICE holds immigrants in cold, ‘filthy’ and crowded cells in California, suit says link
Mission Local: Court orders ICE to immediately provide mattresses, blankets, medical care in S.F. holding cells link
Davis Vanguard: Court orders ICE to improve conditions for detained immigrants in San Francisco link
Courthouse News: Attorneys claim conditions at San Francisco ICE facility remain inhumane link
Courthouse News: Judge rips Trump bid to dodge humane treatment order at ICE facility link
Los Angeles Times: Federal judge blocks ICE from arresting immigrants who show up for court appointments in Northern California link
San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. federal judge orders a stop to ICE courthouse arrests link
Courthouse News: Bay Area judge blocks ICE from detaining asylum-seekers during proceedings link
Mercury News: ‘They treated us like animals’: ICE arrests at Bay Area courthouses left immigrants in fear, but judge’s order gives reprieve link
Bloomberg News: ICE Must Halt Courthouse Arrests in Northern California, Hawaii link
Bay City News Service: Federal Court Halts Courthouse Immigration Arrests By Ice In Bay Area link