A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its Justice Department counterpart from “sweeping” civil arrests at immigration courthouses across Northern California, teeing up an appellate challenge to one of the Trump administration’s most controversial deportation tactics.

“This circumstance presents noncitizens in removal proceedings with a Hobson’s choice between two irreparable harms,” Judge P. Casey Pitts wrote in his Christmas Eve decision.

“First, they may appear in immigration court and face likely arrest and detention,” the judge wrote. “Alternatively, noncitizens may choose not to appear and instead to forego their opportunity to pursue their claims for asylum or other relief from removal.”

Wednesday’s decision blocks ICE and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review from lying in wait for asylum seekers and other noncitizens at routine hearings throughout the region — a move that would effectively restore pre-Trump prohibition on such arrests.

“Here, ICE and EOIR’s prior policies governing courthouse arrests and detention in holding facilities provide a standard,” the judge said.

Authorities have long curbed arrests at “sensitive locations”— such as hospitals, houses of worship and schools — putting them out of reach of most civil immigration enforcement.

The designation was first established decades ago under ICE’s predecessor agency, Immigration and Naturalization Services. ICE absorbed the prohibitions when the agency was formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Courts were added to the list under President Obama. The policy prohibiting most courthouse arrests was suspended during the first Trump administration and reinstated by President Biden.

Internal ICE guidance from the Biden era found “[e]xecuting civil immigration enforcement actions in or near a courthouse may chill individuals’ access to courthouses and, as a result, impair the fair administration of justice.”

Nevertheless, the agency’s courthouse policy was reversed again earlier this year, leading to a surge in arrests, and a staggering drop in court appearances, court records show.

Most who do not show up are ordered removed in absentia.

Monthly removal in absentia orders more than doubled this year, to 4,177 from fewer than 1,600 in 2024, justice department data show.

More than 50,000 asylum seekers have been ordered removed after failing to appear in court hearings since January — more than were ordered removed in absentia in the previous five years combined.

“ICE cannot choose to ignore the ‘costs’ of its new policies—chilling the participation of noncitizens in their removal proceedings —and consider only the policies’ purported ‘benefits’ for immigration enforcement,” Pitts wrote in his stay order.

That ruling likely sets the San Francisco case on a collision course with other lawsuits seeking to curb ICE’s incursions into spaces previously considered off-limits. This suit was brought by a group of asylum seekers who braved the risk and were detained when they showed up to court.

One, a 24-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker named Yulisa Alvarado Ambrocio, was spared detention only because her breastfeeding 11-month-old was with her in court, records show. Administration lawyers told the court ICE would almost certainly pick her up at her next hearing.

Such arrests appear arbitrary and capricious, and are unlikely to survive scrutiny by the courts, Judge Pitts ruled Wednesday.

“That widespread civil arrests at immigration courts could have a chilling effect on noncitizens’ attendance at removal proceedings (as common sense, the prior guidance, and the actual experience in immigration court since May 2025 make clear) and thereby undermine this central purpose is thus ‘an important aspect of the problem’ that ICE was required, but failed, to consider,” Pitts wrote.

A district judge in Manhattan ruled the opposite way on a similar case this fall, setting up a possible circuit split and even a Supreme Court challenge to courthouse arrests in 2026.

For now, the Christmas Eve decision only applies to ICE’s San Francisco Area of Responsibility, a region encompassing all of Northern and Central California, as far south as Bakersfield.

The geographic limit comes in response to the Supreme Court’s emergency decision earlier this year stripping district judges of the power to block federal policies outside narrowly-tailored circumstances.

The administration told the court it intends to appeal to the 9th Circuit, where Trump-appointed judges have swung the bench far to the right of its longtime liberal reputation.

President Donald Trump used his Christmas Eve Truth Social post to tout his administration’s accomplishments and to bash those on the left whom he accused of trying to “destroy” the U.S.

“Merry Christmas to all, including the radical left scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our country, but are failing badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We no longer have open borders, men in women’s sports, transgender for everyone, or weak law enforcement. What we do have is a record stock market and 401K’s, lowest crime numbers in decades, no inflation, and yesterday, a 4.3 GDP, two points better than expected.”

“Tariffs have given us trillions of dollars in growth and prosperity, and the strongest national security we have ever had. We are respected again, perhaps like never before. God Bless America!!!,” the president added.

In the first year of Trump’s second term, the administration launched a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration, introduced controversial tariffs, worked to cut DEI from government programs and took steps toward fulfilling other campaign promises.

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The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it had arrested 17,500 criminal illegal immigrants since Trump signed the Laken Riley Act in January 2025. In a separate DHS announcement, the department unveiled the “2025 Worst of the Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens,” saying that 70% of all ICE arrests are of illegal immigrants “convicted or charged with a crime in the U.S.”

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on the results of the Laken Riley Act that “President Trump has empowered us to arrest and remove the millions of violent criminal illegal aliens unleashed on the United States by the previous administration. Now, these criminals will face justice and be removed from our country.”

Trump’s Christmas Truth Social post on his administration’s accomplishments was also backed up by recent economic data. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its initial estimate of the third-quarter GDP, which showed the economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.3% in the three-month period including July, August and September.

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“Compared to the second quarter, the acceleration in real GDP in the third quarter reflected a smaller decrease in investment, an acceleration in consumer spending, and upturns in exports and government spending. Imports decreased less in the third quarter,” the BEA said.

While the president issued a cutting Christmas Eve statement on Truth Social, his official Christmas Day message was softer and more focused on the meaning of the holiday and the season.

In the statement, which was released by the White House on Thursday, Trump and first lady Melania Trump relayed their warm wishes to Americans while emphasizing the religious significance of Christmas.

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“The First Lady and I send our warmest wishes to all Americans as we share in the joy of Christmas Day and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” the message reads.

Trump went on to recount the biblical story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, calling it “the perfect expression of God’s boundless love and His desire to be close to His people.” The president then tied the story to the founding principles of the U.S.

“For nearly 250 years, the principles of faith, family, and freedom have remained at the center of our way of life. As President, I will never waver in defending the fundamental values that make America the greatest country in the history of the world—and we will always remain one Nation under God.”

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The president also paid homage to U.S. servicemembers who are overseas and are unable to be with their families for the holiday. Trump thanked them for their service and sacrifice and their dedication to protecting Americans.

“We are grateful for their devotion, and we keep them and their loved ones close in our hearts.”

Trump ended his official message with a prayer for peace in the U.S. and across the globe, extending Christmas wishes to Americans and the world.

“During the Christmas season, we pray for an outpouring of God’s abiding love, divine mercy, and everlasting peace upon our country and the entire world,” he said.. “To every American, and to those celebrating around the globe, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!”

Netflix and Paramount are locked in an epic tug-of-war for HBO and Warner Bros. — the historic film factory behind Batman, Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, “Casablanca” and “The Matrix.”

Warner Bros. Discovery awarded the prize to Netflix, prompting Paramount to mount a hostile takeover bid valued at $108 billion for all of the Warner assets, which also include CNN, TBS, HGTV and TLC. The Larry Ellison-backed media company, run by his son David Ellison, has asked Warner shareholders to sell their shares to Paramount.

Warner Bros.’ sale has become the industry’s game of thrones.

The streaming king, Netflix, hopes to buy a chunk of the company — HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios and the 110-acre lot in Burbank — through its $82.7-billion deal. Not included are Warner’s basic cable channels, which are set to be spun off into a separate, publicly-traded company called Discovery Global.

Both deals would fundamentally reorder Hollywood and raise antitrust concerns. Netflix would boast more than 400 million subscribers worldwide, furthering its market dominance. And Paramount’s takeover would combine two major film studios and two leading news organizations, CNN and CBS News, under Ellison family control.

Here’s a look at how we got here: