The Trump administration’s tactics “discourage people from attending court or from feeling safe in court, where folks are simply seeking to access the process that is accorded to them,” said Bobby Hodgson, assistant legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Immigration officers outside 26 Federal Plaza in June. (Ayman Siam/Office of NYC Comptroller)

Several New York organizations are suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Executive Office of Immigration Review, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for repeatedly arresting migrants who show up to routine, mandatory check-ins at immigration courts.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP filed the lawsuit Friday on behalf of The Door and African Communities Together, two local nonprofits that serve New Yorkers and immigrants. 

They say ICE’s courthouse policy, which has recently allowed officers to arrest people after their court hearings, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)’s dismissal policy, which allows Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys to move to dismiss orally in court without a written motion, are unfair and capricious.

The lawsuit seeks to reverse ICE’s policies under the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law that governs how agencies create and enforce regulations.

The administration’s tactics “discourage people from attending court or from feeling safe in court, where folks are simply seeking to access the process that is accorded to them,” said Bobby Hodgson, assistant legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Before these measures were put in place, the Trump administration pushed for more arrests of immigrants without legal status, but officials were failing to reach the numbers they expected. 

But arrests increased significantly since May, when these measures were put in place. That same month, Stephen Miller, the president’s top immigration adviser, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem pressed immigration officials to increase detentions to reach at least 3,000 people a day.

Of the 2,365 immigrants arrested in the New York area since January, more than half had no prior criminal charges or convictions, according to a New York Times analysis of data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. About half of those arrests were people detained at immigration offices or courts. 

“The ability of law enforcement to make arrests of criminal illegal aliens in courthouses is common sense,” an unnamed spokesperson from the DHS press office told City Limits, echoing words that had been used before by DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. The Executive Office for Immigration Review referred questions to DHS and declined further comment.

The lawsuit describes how members of two organizations, The Door and African Communities Together, have been affected by arrests and detentions.

The Door works with young people under the age of 24, some of whom are immigrants seeking legal relief, such as asylum or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). This status is available to individuals under the age of 21 who are unmarried and currently living in the United States, among others.

Advocates and attorneys have suggested that people ask to appear virtually in immigration court as a means to avoid ICE agents. 

One of The Door’s clients filed a motion to appear online, according to the lawsuit. However, the court rejected his request, and he had to appear in court in person, where he was arrested. 

The 21-year-old is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which officials have decried for its “dangerous, inhumane conditions.”

Thursday morning, Congressmembers Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velázquez, and Dan Goldman—who filed a lawsuit against ICE last week over being barred access to ICE holding areas—were again denied entry to the Brooklyn facility during an oversight visit.

The Door fears the young man’s SIJS petition will be lost if he is deported; they have not been able to speak with him since his arrest in June.

“We see the fear of our members in a way that I haven’t seen in the past,” said Beth Baltimore, the deputy director of The Door’s Legal Services Center.

Baltimore explained that out of all the motions to appear virtually that they’ve filed on behalf of clients in the last couple of months, only a couple have been approved.

“A lot of people are just losing access to counsel that might be provided in New York and losing access to services at The Door,” said Baltimore about the young people, including migrant youths, who get access to services through the organization. They can’t come to our health center, can’t come to our arts programming, and lunch and dinner every day.”

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Daniel@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post New York Groups Challenge ICE’s Courthouse Arrests appeared first on City Limits.

By Christie D’Zurilla, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Actor Kelley Mack, who played Addy in Season 9 of “The Walking Dead” in addition to doing national commercials and voice-over work, has died at age 33, her family said on social media.

“It is with indelible sadness that we are announcing the passing of our dear Kelley. Such a bright, fervent light has transitioned to the beyond, where we all eventually must go,” the family wrote Tuesday on her Instagram account. She died in Cincinnati after battling glioma of the central nervous system, according to a notice posted on her CaringBridge page.

“Kelley passed peacefully on Saturday evening with her loving mother Kristen and steadfast aunt Karen present. Kelley has already come to many of her loved ones in the form of various butterflies … She will be missed by so many to depths that words cannot express.”

Mack, born Kelley Lynne Klebenow in Cincinnati on July 10, 1992, was raised in towns around Ohio and also in Missouri, Connecticut, North Carolina and Illinois. She moved to Los Angeles after earning a cinematography degree from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film in Orange in 2014.

Related Articles

Massive central California wildfire keeps growing and becomes state’s largest blaze of the year

Claire’s, known for piercing millions of teens’ ears, files for Chapter 11, 2nd time since 2018

Tribal groups assert sovereignty as feds crack down on gender-affirming care

The Voting Rights Act is turning 60. Civil rights marchers recall a hard-won struggle

Michigan museum preserves Civil Rights artifacts amid federal efforts to downplay Black history

Her commercial work included playing Becky in “Fansville” ads for Dr Pepper and her voice-overs could be heard in spots for the Hyundai Ioniq, Budweiser, Credit Karma and more. Her “Walking Dead” character, Addy, was one of the young residents of Hilltop who had a crush on Henry while he had feelings for Lydia. Addy’s reanimated head wound up on a pike at the border of the Whisperers’ territory along with those of Henry and a handful of others who fought bravely but unsuccessfully after being kidnapped by Alpha.

After experiencing pain last fall in her lower back and legs, Mack was diagnosed in late November with a diffuse midline glioma, a rare type of astrocytoma, a cancer that starts in the central nervous system. “Due to the biopsy surgery on my spinal cord,” she said on Instagram in January, “I have lost the use of my right leg and most of my left leg, so I now get around with a walker and a wheelchair.”

She started proton radiation treatments in Cincinnati in mid-January — “It felt like I was filming an episode of my new TV show, set on a space ship floating somewhere in our infinite galaxy,” she wrote on Instagram — and by March had regained some ability to walk despite continuing pain in her lower body.

“Some days are challenging,” she said in April on CaringBridge, listing all the “healthy” things she was trying to do with aid from caregivers — her family members. “We have our emotional hiccups,” she said, “but we remind each other of our positivity and strength. We continue to feel confident in our path forward, God, and in our love for each other all leading up to overcome.”

By July, however, Mack was receiving respite care, which was described as “the toughest part of her journey.”

She is survived by her mother and father, Kristen and Lindsay Klebenow, sister Katherine, brother Parker, grandparents Lois and Larry Klebenow and her boyfriend, Logan Lanier. A celebration of life will be held Aug. 16 in Glendale, Ohio, and at a future date in Los Angeles.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Could Be Worse

“What I Should Have Said” follows a man who goes to marriage counseling, alone, and — as enacted across the stage — replays arguments with his wife, then re-replays them in healthier ways he wishes he’d communicated. Great concept. Muddled execution. Occasionally stiff acting aside, the show barely escapes trite self-help dialogue and can’t sell the marital relationship as believably precarious, which would be necessary for the “should’ve” scenes to feel incisive. A final-act twist unexpectedly cuts against part of the show’s premise, but those last minutes turn out to be the only ones that live up to the show’s powerful potential.

Presented by Peake Productions at Phoenix Theater; 8:30 p.m. Aug. 1, 8:30 p.m. Aug. 2, 2:30 p.m. Aug. 3, 8:30 p.m. Aug. 7, 7 p.m. Aug. 8, 7 p.m. Aug. 9

Still trying to decide what to see? Check out all the Pioneer Press 2025 Fringe reviews, with each show rated on a scale of Must See, Worth Considering, Could Be Worse or You Can Skip It.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is presenting nearly 100 hourlong stage acts from July 31 through Aug. 10 around Minneapolis. Visit MinnesotaFringe.org for ticket and show information.

Related Articles

Fringe review: Historical drama ‘Tompkins Squares’ is stiff and underwhelming

Fringe review: ‘Breach,’ ferocious, thrilling and shrewd, is simply stunning theater

Fringe review: ‘Fangs and Bangs’ is a rollicking, delightfully earnest variety show

Fringe review: ‘The Wickie’ is physical comedy at its finest, from a master clown

Fringe review: Impassioned ‘Salt’ balances touching drama and moral questions

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) — Rising temperatures on Wednesday posed new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California that has injured four people as it has become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year.

More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest are threatened by the Gifford Fire, which grew only slightly overnight after burning out of control for days.

The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment. It surpassed the 126-square mile Madre Fire, which erupted last month in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state’s largest fire of 2025.

Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures in the mid-90s on Wednesday and above 100 on Thursday, said Capt. Scott Safechuck with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

“We have hot weather, and we have low relative humidity,” Safechuck said Wednesday. “So we expect extreme fire behavior.” Luckily, winds are expected to remain relatively calm, he said.

Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as the heat wave intensifies. The southern part of the state has seen very little rain, drying out vegetation and making it “ripe to burn,” the National Weather Service for Los Angeles warned in a statement. Triple-digit temperatures are forecast for the Sacramento Valley.

Related Articles

Claire’s, known for piercing millions of teens’ ears, files for Chapter 11, 2nd time since 2018

Tribal groups assert sovereignty as feds crack down on gender-affirming care

The Voting Rights Act is turning 60. Civil rights marchers recall a hard-won struggle

Michigan museum preserves Civil Rights artifacts amid federal efforts to downplay Black history

Homeland Security removes age limits for ICE recruits to boost hiring for Trump deportations

More than 2,200 personnel are battling the Gifford Fire, which grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. The causes of the fires are under investigation.

Flames are racing through a vast, mostly unpopulated region that includes forestland, ranches, large canyon properties and agricultural parcels growing wine grapes and strawberries.

The weather service warned of health risks from spreading smoke that could affect much of southwest California.

Officials reported four injuries, including a firefighter who was treated for dehydration. Over the weekend, a motorist was hospitalized with burn injuries after getting out of his vehicle and being overrun by flames. And two contract employees assisting firefighters were also hurt when their all-terrain vehicle overturned.