Pablo Sequen v. Albarran (ICE Courthouse Arrests & Unlawful 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 at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) San Francisco Field Office at 630 Sansome.
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 Stay (Courthouse Arrests)
Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Stay (Detention Conditions)
Preliminary Injunction Order Granted on Nov 25 2025 (Detention Conditions)
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
Mission Local: ACLU sues ICE in S.F. to stop courthouse arrests, ‘inhumane’ detention 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
Law360: Judge Shields Migrants From ICE After Courthouse Arrests link
Courthouse News: Bay Area judge blocks ICE from detaining asylum-seekers during proceedings link