A federal judge in New York said ICE agents falsified official records and gave false or misleading testimony after illegally arresting a man they claimed to have mistaken for someone else, finding that the evidence did not support the agency’s account of what happened.U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Angel Jesus Almonte during a May operation in the Bronx despite striking physical differences between Almonte and the man agents said they were seeking. Brown found that the subsequent arrest paperwork contained false information and that officers later gave inconsistent, false or misleading testimony in court.“The claims of misidentification here prove baseless, the arrests were procedurally deficient and legally invalid, and ICE agents falsified official records trying to conceal their illegal actions,” Brown wrote in a 28-page ruling issued Monday in the Eastern District of New York. He found Almonte's arrest and detention illegal and provisionally granted his habeas petition.The same operation also resulted in the arrest of Jeury Concepcion, a U.S. citizen whom agents said they had mistaken for Dario Santos-Amarante.Those actions “included significant injury to a U.S. citizen,” the judge wrote.In a statement emailed to Newsweek Wednesday, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said, “This matter will be litigated in court, not through the media.”Newsweek has contacted ICE and Almonte's legal team for comment....Brown, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Donald Trump, has ordered the government to explain within 21 days how it will address the problems identified by the court. The ruling provides an unusually detailed account of an ICE enforcement operation on a Bronx street and the agents’ subsequent efforts to justify their conduct, raising questions about the agency’s training and procedures. Brown said he could consider sanctions, referrals to other authorities or contempt proceedings after reviewing the government’s response.On May 6, ICE agents conducting an operation in the Bronx arrested Almonte after claiming they mistook him for one of their targets. But ICE’s own records showed substantial differences between the two men.Almonte was listed as 6 feet tall and 180 pounds, while Santos-Amarante, the man agents said they believed he was, was listed as 5-foot-7 and 110 pounds. Under cross-examination, the ICE team leader acknowledged that photographs made it “very easy to see they’re two different people.”...Judge Slams ICE Agents' 'Inexperience'The judge also focused on the relative inexperience of the officers involved. Team leader Katepodis had worked as a deportation officer for two years and had no previous law enforcement background beyond serving as an NYPD dispatcher, which the court noted is a civilian position. Kevin Brodowsky, assigned to ICE’s Fugitive Operations Unit, had been an ICE deportation officer since September 2025 after less than two years as a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer. Yassin, also assigned to the fugitive unit, had been a deportation officer for eight months after several years with CBP.The officers began surveillance outside Almonte’s Bronx apartment building at about 3 p.m., initially looking for Dario Santos-Amarante, who was wanted in connection with a removal order. At least five officers arrived in three unmarked vehicles and watched the location for between 30 minutes and an hour.Their testimony also revealed conflicting accounts of Dario Santos-Amarante’s criminal history. Yassin recalled “possible charges,” while Brodowsky testified that the target had drug charges. Katepodis recalled that one charge involved resisting officers. Records before the court, however, showed several motor vehicle charges stemming from an April 20 incident, including misdemeanor reckless endangerment and fleeing from an officer. “There were no drug charges,” Brown wrote.Soon after surveillance began, supervisors added a second target, Kewin Santos-Amarante, sending information about him to agents by cellphone. Kewin Santos-Amarante had no criminal record and was being sought only for failing to appear at an immigration office, according to the ruling. However, Yassin still testified that he recalled “possible charges” against him but could not identify them.Agents pursued Almonte after he ran, took him to the ground, handcuffed him and placed him in a vehicle. Brown wrote that the team leader later realized agents had apprehended “the wrong person.”By then, Almonte had already been arrested without agents having established his immigration status and before an administrative arrest warrant had been issued.ICE issued an administrative arrest warrant saying that probable cause to believe Almonte was removable was based on biometric confirmation of his identity and federal database checks, according to court filings. But a supervisory ICE officer later said searches of five federal databases had initially returned negative results.The supervisor still signed the warrant and checked boxes indicating that biometric confirmation and database searches affirmatively showed that Almonte lacked immigration status, according to the ruling. Brown called that claim “undeniably false.”ICE then processed Almonte and entered his information into the databases. A second search returned positive results because his information was now present in the systems, according to a declaration from the ICE supervisor cited by the court.'Substantially False' Arrest WarrantJudge Brown described the administrative warrant as “substantially false” and said it had been prepared after Almonte’s detention “in an attempt to rationalize their actions.”“Some things simply strain the imagination,” he wrote.The judge also scrutinized a sworn certificate of service completed by Katepodis. The document certified that Katepodis had served the warrant on Almonte in the Bronx and read its contents to him in Spanish.But Brown found that Katepodis did not have the warrant at the time and therefore could not have read it to Almonte. The judge said Katepodis admitted at the hearing that the certification was false. Katepodis later submitted a declaration seeking to explain the discrepancy, an explanation Brown found unpersuasive.Video reviewed by the court showed a masked ICE agent approaching Concepcion with a gun drawn and pointed toward him. Brown described the arrest as “extremely violent” and said Concepcion sustained head injuries requiring stitches.Brown found that the arrests of both Almonte and Concepcion were illegal, although the habeas petition before him concerned Almonte’s ICE detention.The judge also questioned testimony from ICE officers who said they had observed Almonte taking part in apparent drug transactions before his arrest. Their accounts differed. Yassin, who was closest to Almonte, testified that the activity was “very quick and subtle” and said he did not actually see anything in Almonte’s hand. Brodowsky, observing from about 100 feet away without using binoculars, testified that he saw "baggies" exchanged for money.No drugs, cash or drug paraphernalia were found on Almonte, according to the ruling, and the ICE report documenting his arrest made no mention of the alleged transactions. Government lawyers had also previously told the court there was no information indicating Almonte had involvement with illegal narcotics, violence, firearms, gangs or a criminal history.Judge Brown said the testimony about the supposed transactions bore “all the hallmarks of coordinated fabrication.” He also cited “evasive and apparently perjurious testimony” from the ICE agents.Those descriptions were Brown’s findings about the evidence before him. The ruling does not itself constitute a criminal finding that any officer committed perjury.Brown said the evidence raised concerns about ICE training and practices, including a database-search process that appeared “designed to generate misleading information in official records.”He gave the government 21 days to outline any steps it will take to address the problems identified by the court before deciding whether further proceedings, including potential sanctions are warranted.Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Cannon and Cristina Diciu.