FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 8, 2025
MEDIA CONTACT: Raya Steier, c: 530-723-2426, rsteier@lccrsf.org

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

SAN JOSE, Calif. — On Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at 10:00 AM, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose will hold a crucial hearing in a class action lawsuit seeking to end the Trump administration’s policy of arresting immigrants at courthouses.

Attorneys from Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF) will argue for a “stay” to halt policies of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) authorizing the wide-scale arrest of immigrants at immigration courthouses. The court will consider whether these policies violate the Administrative Procedure Act.

The motion, filed on October 16, 2025, challenges policies enacted in January 2025 that abruptly reversed a decades-long bipartisan practice of treating courthouses as sensitive locations. Plaintiffs argue the change was made without reasoned explanation and violates federal law. The policy has turned immigration courts into sites of fear, forcing individuals to choose between attending mandatory hearings and risking arrest, or missing court and facing an automatic deportation order. This has led to a surge in absenteeism, undermining the integrity of the immigration court system.

View the motion here.  

The plaintiffs in the case 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.

WHO: LCCRSF attorneys Jordan Wells & Marissa Hatton, with co-counsel

WHAT: Hearing on Motion for Stay in Federal Class Action Lawsuit of the Trump Administration’s Immigration Courthouse Arrest Policies

WHEN: Tuesday, December 9, at 10:00 AM

WHERE:

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

San Jose Courthouse

San Jose, CA

A link to observe court remotely is available here.  

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