This case challenges the illegal courthouse arrest and detention of Ousmane Savane, a 22-year-old asylum seeker. Since coming to the United States to seek safety in 2023, Ousmane has done everything the U.S. government asked him to: after being released from detention shortly after entering the United States, he has attended all of his immigration court hearings as scheduled and timely applied for asylum.

But when he showed up to immigration court in New York City on August 12, 2025 for a routine hearing on his case, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested him and locked him in immigration detention center in the Orange County Jail in Goshen, New York.

Ousmane’s arrest is one of thousands taking place in immigration courts across the country. Under a new detention policy, the U.S. government lures people to immigration court with the promise that they will be able to argue their case before a judge. After the hearing, ICE agents waiting outside the courtroom doors arrest the person and transport them to an immigration detention center.

Under a new policy, ICE claims that people like Ousmane, who entered the United States without a formal immigration status to apply for asylum, are subject to a form of mandatory detention that previously applied only to people seeking admission at the border. Under this new policy, ICE would have the authority to lock up millions of people who, like Ousmane, are not actually at the border seeking admission.

What is the legal argument in this case?

The U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment guarantees due process to all people at risk of a deprivation of liberty, regardless of immigration status. When the government detains someone, due process requires that detention bear a reasonable relationship to a legitimate purpose, like preventing a risk of flight.

Ousmane’s arrest and detention violate his right to due process because they are wholly unjustified and unrelated to any individualized consideration of his circumstances. In the time Ousmane has lived in the United States, he has been neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk—evidenced by his dutiful appearance at his scheduled immigration court dates.

The U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment requires that a government seizure, including by arrest, be reasonable. Ousmane was arrested and detained, along with countless others, not because of any legitimate change in circumstances, but as part of a nationwide campaign to ambush law-abiding noncitizens when they attend their immigration court hearings.

Finally, ICE’s decision to apply mandatory detention for persons seeking admission to the U.S. to Ousmane, a person who is not seeking admission at the border, violates the plain language of 8 U.S.C. §1225(b), the mandatory detention statute.

What is the status of this case?

Pending in the district court of the Southern District of New York.

June 12, 2025