The New York Times reports:

A federal judge in New York reprimanded the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on Monday, accusing its officers of lying, lacking proper training and fabricating records to cover up illegal arrests.

In a scathing 28-page ruling, the judge, Gary R. Brown, condemned the agency’s tactics when it mistakenly arrested two Hispanic men, including a U.S. citizen, in the Bronx in May, finding that ICE had “falsified official records trying to conceal” its “illegal actions.”

Judge Brown wrote that immigration agents involved in the arrests had given “inconsistent, false and misleading testimony” in court, and said that they had probably perjured themselves. He found that the officers were inexperienced, possessed little understanding of the law and used “false testimony to conceal these failings.”

More broadly, Judge Brown concluded that the agency’s claim — that it had confused the two men it arrested with the intended targets — was part of a “troubling” pattern by ICE to justify erroneous arrests.

“The claims of misidentification here prove baseless, the arrests were procedurally deficient and legally invalid, and ICE agents falsified official records trying to conceal their illegal actions, which included significant injury to a U.S. citizen,” Judge Brown wrote. He was appointed by President Trump in 2019 to serve in the Eastern District of New York.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ruling joins a growing wave of decisions by federal judges — including those appointed by Republicans — who have sharply rebuked ICE. Judges have said that the agency has conducted warrantless arrests and trampled due process rights amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation push. [Continue reading…]