A Paraguayan asylum seeker who fled persecution in 2023 was arrested by masked ICE agents in July 2025 as he left a scheduled immigration court hearing in Manhattan, during which one of his two U.S.-citizen sisters was knocked to the ground. He had lived with his sister in Flushing, Queens, worked in construction, attended church, and had no criminal history in any country, regularly attending his court dates and filing an asylum application in January 2025. He was held for several days at 26 Federal Plaza in overcrowded conditions, where an ICE officer mocked a photo of him weeping and told him "it's a new government" when he asked why he was being arrested. A federal judge later granted his habeas corpus petition, ruling his detention unlawful and ordering his release.