Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employs a new tactic, facilitating arrests within the immigration court system

Updated June 14, 2025 at 1:43 AM CDT

Meet Vadzim Bulaty, a Belarusian political asylee who bonked heads with country's long-serving dictator Alexander Lukashenko. Last month, Bulaty found himself in a Minnesota immigration courtroom, attending his son, Aliaksandr's, initial hearing.

Aliaksandr had joined his father in the U.S. around May 2024 by seeking asylum via the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to schedule appointments at legal entry points. Vadzim and Aliaksandr's goal was to get their cases linked, but their plans went kaput due to an unexpected twist.

During the hearing, the DHS attorney demanded the case's dismissal. According to Vadzim, he interpreted this as a green light for freedom, not realizing it was just a clever ruse--a verbal trap. Confident that their cases would proceed together, they exited the building only to meet handcuffs offered by ICE agents just a few paces away. Unbeknownst to them, Aliaksandr was facing expedited removal within three days.

Aliaksandr spent weeks in the Freeborn Adult Detention Center, with his lawyer battling his deportation to a nation where his father fears immediate imprisonment. He's one of over a 100 individuals who have been nabbed by ICE in immigration courts nationwide, embodying the agency's latest efforts to meet their extreme 3,000-person daily arrest quota.

Many were taken into custody right at the courts, leaving judges and lawyers scratching their heads. The tactic took the legal community by surprise until the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which oversees immigration courts and is part of the Department of Justice, filled them in. In a May 30 email (first reported by NBC), the EOIR detailed the approach to judges.

It's yet another tactic the Trump administration has employed to speed up deportations of undocumented immigrants. The strategy seems to be effective, as the administration reported their highest daily arrest numbers since President Trump took office.

However, Greg Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, calls it a desperate attempt to bypass the legal system and deny people a fair day in court. The goal: to rapidly deport as many individuals as possible without regard for the rule of law.

When questioned about this new strategy, ICE stated that most immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally within the past two years can be swiftly deported. Despite this, not everyone caught in the crosshifts of this strategy entered the country illegally--some entered via the CBP One app during the Biden administration but had their permissions revoked by Trump.

Departure from Previous Practice

The May 30 email from the EOIR, addressed to court supervisors, pointed out that the courts' caseload had skyrocketed in the past few months. To reduce this backlog, judges are encouraged to make immediate decisions on whether to dismiss cases from the bench, skipping the usual 10-day opportunity for migrants to challenge the decision.

Former assistant chief counsel Veronica Cardenas, who worked under three presidents, including Trump's first term, notes that a dismissal motion used to remove cases from the court calendar, allowing migrants to seek relief by applying for asylum or other methods. Now, Cardenas observes that dismissal actually means something far less favorable for noncitizens--ICE officers are waiting just outside the courtroom to slap on handcuffs.

Under the new approach, once their case is dismissed, immigrants are arrested again, often before they even leave the building - like what happened to Aliaksandr Bulaty. They're then subjected to expedited removal: a fast-track deportation process that doesn't guarantee a court hearing and comes with a five-year ban on returning to the U.S.

In the first few days of deploying this strategy in late May, ICE arrested hundreds of individuals. Lawyers noticed the new strategy in about 14 cities, but it has since expanded to other states and courts, including Boston, New York City, and Northern Virginia.

Conservative think tank Border Security and Immigration Center director Lora Ries praises this new policy because it aligns with Trump's mass deportation effort and helps courts reduce their case backlog, currently standing at approximately 4 million cases. She also suggests that the strategy might encourage individuals in detention to leave rather than fight their claims.

However, immigration lawyers flag this tactic as a breach of due process. Cardenas points out that this strategy creates a paranoid environment, where compliance with court orders could lead to detention and deportation. Non-compliance can result in final removal orders too, unfairly penalizing those who believed they were following the rules.

As for the Bulatys, Aliaksandr's case is still in limbo. His lawyer, Malinda Schmiechen, successfully argued for a reopening of his case this week, pushing off his imminent deportation. Despite this reprieve, Vadzim fears for himself, his wife, and his other sons. He resents the risk of becoming a victim of another dictatorship, having escaped one already.

Despite the Trump administration's insistence that the newly implemented strategy aiming to expedite the deportation of undocumented immigrants adheres to the rule of law, immigration lawyers have expressed concerns, pointing out that this approach may bypass the legal system and deny individuals a fair day in court.
In the recent case of Vadzim and Aliaksandr Bulaty, the DHS attorney's demand for dismissal during Aliaksandr's initial hearing last month unexpectedly led to their immediate arrest by ICE agents, despite their initial hopes of having their cases linked and proceeding together, highlighting the unpredictability and speed of the new policy-and-legislation-related news and the changing landscape of politics and general-news.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employs a new tactic, facilitating arrests within the immigration court system