A federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled on Tuesday that warrantless arrests of illegal immigrants were only permissible if there was probable cause that the suspect was both an illegal immigrant and was likely to flee.
Under typical circumstances, federal immigration agents are required to obtain an arrest warrant before an immigration arrest can be made. However, exceptions are made in cases in which “probable cause” exists that a known illegal immigrant will likely flee before a warrant can be obtained.
The ruling by Obama appointed U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the immigrant advocacy organization CASA in September.
The immigration group argued that the Department of Homeland Security’s implementation of its “arrest first, ask questions later” policy in August during President Donald Trump’s federalization of the D.C. police force led to members of Latino communities being targeted and making indiscriminate arrests. Howell noted that an analysis found 943 immigration arrests occurred between Aug. 7 and Sept. 9 of this year, accounting for over 40 percent of all arrests in Washington.
“Put simply, immigration enforcement officers may conduct a warrantless civil immigration arrest only if they have probable cause to believe that a person is both in the United States unlawfully and an escape risk,” Howell wrote in the 88-page ruling.
In response to the lawsuit against the Trump administration, Department of Homeland Security Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in September that ICE arrests are made based upon a “reasonable suspicion”, which is a lower standard than “probable cause.” Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller have also deemed for immigration arrests to be based upon a “reasonable suspicion.”
Howell has deemed the statements of the public officials to be “blatant misstatements” of Immigration and Nationality Act requirements for arrests.
“Rather than the possible alternative excuse that such public statements are the result of ignorance or incompetence on the part of DHS’s high-ranking officials and legal counsel, the better, straight-forward explanation is that DHS’s statements derive from an intentional policy and practice of conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests without the requisite probable cause findings,” the judge wrote.
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The federal judge also ruled that any warrantless civil immigration arrest in Washington D.C. will require the arresting agent to document “the specific, particularized facts that supported the agent’s pre-arrest probable cause to believe that the person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.”