DOJ Blames ICE for ‘Regrettable Error’ in Immigration Suit
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents look over lists of names and their hearing times and locations inside the Federal Plaza courthouse in New York.
Photographer: Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty ImagesUS Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that they’ve been relying on incorrect information for months in a fight over the Trump administration’s migrant arrest tactics, and blamed Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the “regrettable error.”
In a letter filed Tuesday night, the US attorney’s office in Manhattan said it would withdraw arguments it made over the past year defending civil migrant arrests at US immigration courts based on May 2025 ICE guidance. Although the government isn’t dropping its defense against the lawsuit altogether, the revelation could hurt its case going forward.