Overview
- Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a federal suit challenging ICE and DHS, arguing the agency’s written courthouse directive is arbitrary, exceeds statutory authority under the Administrative Procedure Act, and violates the Tenth Amendment.
- California’s lawsuit marks the state’s 100th legal action against the federal administration and repeats claims that ICE’s May 2025 memo led to a sharp rise in courthouse enforcement.
- State data cited in the filing say average monthly ICE arrests in and around California courthouses rose more than 550 percent after the May 2025 memo and that enforcement incidents continued into mid-2026 with dozens of reported arrests.
- Federal judges have already limited parts of ICE’s courthouse policy in rulings such as the June 2026 decision by U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts, and the administration is pursuing appeals that leave legal authority unresolved.
- California has strengthened state protections by extending a safe zone up to 1,000 feet around courthouses and says the arrests have deterred victims, witnesses and defendants from coming to court, jeopardizing prosecutions and access to justice.