A federal judge in New York this week accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of falsifying records to cover up a pair of erroneous arrests, including one that resulted in significant injury to a U.S. citizen.
Judge Gary R. Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued the scathing reprimand Monday, condemning the agents’ actions when they apparently misidentified a pair of men they arrested in New York City earlier this year — then allegedly covered their tracks by falsifying official paperwork.
“The evidence suggests that ICE attempted to support their unsupported misidentification argument through false or misleading documentation and testimony,” Brown, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote in a 28-page ruling, determining that the “arrest and detention of petitioner were illegal.”
The petitioner, Angel Jesus Almonte, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant, alleges ICE agents arrested him based on a physical description despite the fact that he’s five inches shorter and 80 pounds lighter than their intended target, the filing says.
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In June, Almonte filed an emergency habeas petition challenging his arrest, detention and the conditions of his confinement, the filing says.
During cross-examination, the ICE team leader acknowledged, “It’s very easy to see they’re two different people.”
Following the arrest, Brown determined that the paperwork filed by agents contained false information, as did testimony provided by the officials.
The case stems from a May 6 ICE operation in which three officers were involved: team leader John Katepodis, deportation officer Kevin Brodowsky and deportation officer Zamir Yassin, all relatively new to their jobs, Brown wrote.
At the time of the arrests, the agents said they were searching for an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record, as well as a second person without any known convictions. They claimed to have spotted Almonte — whom they mistook for one of their targets — conduct a drug deal outside of a building in the Bronx, though officers also wrote in a report that Almonte was not in possession of drugs or money at the time of his arrest.
Brown later determined that agents had falsified a warrant following the arrest to justify their apparent instance of mistaken identity, and only after detaining Almonte did they determine he was in the country illegally.
“ICE agents prepared a substantially false administrative warrant in an attempt to rationalize their actions,” Brown wrote, adding that the agents’ claim that they had witnessed a drug transaction “bear all the hallmarks of coordinated fabrication.”
The agents then made another arrest on the same block, claiming to have found their second target. That man, 19-year-old Jeury Concepción, is a U.S. citizen who said officers did not ask to see his identification before taking him to the ground. He was injured during the encounter and received stitches for a deep cut he sustained on the side of his head.
The agents also claimed that the incident was a case of mistaken identity.
Joshua Dayan, a lawyer for Concepción, told The New York Times that he planned to sue ICE and the agents involved.
“What happened to him should not happen to anybody … let alone a U.S. citizen,” Dayan said. “All they did was run up to Jeury and attack him.”
Trump nominated Brown to the court in 2018, and the Senate confirmed him by voice vote the following year. A former federal magistrate, Brown was first appointed to the Eastern District of New York in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama but never confirmed by the Senate before his nomination expired.
Brown has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
In a 2025 ruling reported by Courthouse News Service, Brown threatened the Department of Homeland Security with contempt after the department refused to provide his court with photos of a Long Island holding room, which he said had been maintained “in a manner that shocks the conscience.”
In Monday’s ruling, Brown ordered ICE to explain what disciplinary procedures it would hand down to the agents and any steps it plans to undertake to prevent any similar incidents in the future. He also left open the threat of penalties, including contempt charges, for agency officials.
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