ICE has been accused of overstepping its boundaries in its illegal immigration crackdown operations. The agency has been violating court orders to fulfill assigned quotas from Stephen Miller and is reportedly prepared to continue doing so. A department official appeared in a Massachusetts courtroom, where a judge identified a series of false statements and half-truths. The courtroom grew increasingly surprised as the case unfolded.
According to reports from Bangor Daily News, Brian Sullivan, the acting assistant director of ICE’s Boston field office, appeared in court. He admitted that documents previously submitted to the court under oath were not written by him and contained false information.
#ICEagents know full well that following them from a reasonable distance and videoing their activities does not constitute an offense under 18 U.S. Code § 111.
But #ICE pretends it does, using this as a pretext to rough people up and unlawfully detain them in awful conditions. https://t.co/feilnSnxXn
— Melliflora🍉 יהדות כן ציונות לא (@melliflora) February 21, 2026
The shocking testimony compelled the judge to call a second hearing, demanding an explanation of who wrote the documents for the assistant director. ICE has been ordered by four federal judges to release detainees in Portland immediately. The order came after the judges learned that documents filed by the federal agency were either falsified or violated a court order.
According to a separate report from the Maine Morning Star, more than 45 people were detained at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s regional headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. An asylum seeker said the detainees were locked in a cold room roughly the size of a kitchen. The people received bare minimum meals and were made to sleep on the floor.
To make matters worse, detainees were required to use the toilet in the same room, with no screen for privacy and a camera fitted on the ceiling. Although the building is primarily used for administrative purposes, federal agents have been detaining migrants there.
The conditions have raised concerns among lawyers, who filed sworn affidavits in federal court describing the facility as “unsanitary.” In a report from Politico, judges described ongoing clashes with ICE and said they had rejected numerous detention cases because they violated court orders. They added that the federal department had disobeyed nearly 100 orders in January 2026 alone.
The money was relocated. NOT cut. So that’s a lie. On the federal, level Republicans are REFUSING to rein in ICE, allowing them to terrorize communities, murder Americans, and detain immigrants unlawfully in prison camps. Republicans are NOT on the side of the American people. pic.twitter.com/60ovP0C2Wn
— Stacey (@StaceyR0320) February 14, 2026
Walter McKnee, a criminal defense lawyer, stated, “False statements and ignoring a judge’s order are both exceedingly rare.” He expressed shock at how far Immigration and Customs Enforcement was willing to go. After all, the agency allegedly lied in court and, more shockingly, deliberately ignored a court order.
The Department of Homeland Security issued a public statement blaming “activist judges.” The department claimed the judges were hindering efforts to remove the “worst of the worst” criminals from the country. A spokesperson said,
“We will continue to fight tooth-and-nail to remove the worst of the worst from American streets.”
In another Maine case, Judge Woodcock Jr. ordered the immediate release of a detained woman after he learned that ICE had provided false information. Additionally, the agency had defied his order not to move the woman outside his jurisdiction. Jacob Binnall, the woman’s lawyer, said he had handled numerous similar cases but had never encountered a situation like this before.
