A California federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden drew backlash Tuesday evening after issuing a nationwide injunction blocking Trump administration policies that allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests at immigration courthouses and expanded the amount of time immigration detainees can be held in short-term detention facilities.U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California ruled that the policies violated the Administrative Procedure Act because federal agencies failed to adequately explain their decision to abandon earlier restrictions on courthouse arrests and detention practices. Pitts vacated the policies nationwide in a 71-page opinion.The ruling prompted sharp criticism from administration officials and conservative legal figures, who accused the judge of interfering with immigration enforcement.
“When a judge sentences a defendant, the defendant is taken into custody. If an alien is ordered removed by an immigration judge, the same should happen,” the Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel, James Percival, posted on X. “A district judge ordering otherwise is naked judicial activism in service of an anti-American, open borders agenda.”Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) also blasted the ruling, writing on X that it was “yet another example of partisan judges throwing sand in the gears of immigration enforcement.”“The people want — indeed, voted for — the law to be enforced!” DeSantis added.
