Judge Blocks ICE From Searching Immigration Lawyer’s Phone

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Judge blocks Trump administration from searching lawyer's phone, finding the seizure was likely retaliation for protected speech.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from searching data copied from an immigration lawyer’s cellphone, finding that he is likely to succeed on his claim that the government seized the device in retaliation for his First Amendment-protected speech.

U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, an Obama apointee, granted attorney Andrew Lattarulo a preliminary injunction Thursday, finding that evidence currently before the court suggested he “would not have been searched except for his protected speech.”

The ruling prevents federal authorities from accessing data copied from Lattarulo’s phone after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and an officer with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) stopped him as he returned to Boston from Aruba in September. HSI is the investigative arm within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Lattarulo, a part owner of the law firm Georges Cote LLP, represents clients in immigration proceedings and runs a popular Instagram account where he posts “know-your-rights” information about U.S. immigration matters. His videos regularly receive hundreds of thousands of views, according to the ruling.

Newsweek has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, CBP and Lattarulo's legal team for comment, outside of normal working hours.

The judge said Lattarulo’s public statements opposing the government’s immigration policies and his representation of people in immigration proceedings were protected by the First Amendment.

The government denied targeting Lattarulo because of his speech. It argued that the seizure was connected to an HSI inquiry into whether his law firm employed people who were not legally authorized to work in the United States.

The firm was served with a Notice of Inspection on September 8, 2025, and received a Notice of Suspect Documents on September 25, according to the ruling.

Lattarulo and his law firm partner, Audai Cote, traveled from Boston to Aruba for a weekend trip later that month.

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