LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A federal judge in Los Angeles is putting new limits on when immigration agents can make arrests without a warrant.<\/p>\n
Agents must now get a warrant before making a civil immigration arrest, unless they determine the person is likely to escape before one can be obtained.<\/p>\n
U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong found federal immigration agents are “regularly abstaining from conducting a likelihood of escape analysis at all.”<\/p>\n
In addition to stopping the unlawful practice of conducting warrantless arrests without first determining whether a person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, the court orders the federal government to comply with the following conditions:<\/p>\n
Immigration agents must consider the totality of circumstances known to agent before making the arrest, including escape risk;Agents must stop relying on the escape risk standard or analytical approach set forth in the five-page memorandum from former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, issued in January, which illegally suggested that merely being undocumented was sufficient as a likelihood of escape; andAgents must document their analysis of escape risk when conducting warrantless arrests in the Central District of California.<\/p>\n
“For more than a year, families across our city have lived with the fear that a trip to work, a walk down the street, or a goodbye in the morning could end with a loved one being taken away,” Bass said in a statement. “Today’s ruling is an important protection against the warrantless arrests that have racially targeted Angelenos and terrorized communities.”<\/p>\n
“This ruling is one of the most important decisions to date in the community’s effort to end the federal government’s cruel and illegal practice of abducting people and separating them from their families,” Mayra Joachin, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said in a statement. “By requiring immigration agents to follow the law’s requirement to make escape risk determinations before they can arrest someone without a warrant, this court order should put an end to hundreds — if not more — of unlawful arrests that continue throughout Southern California”.<\/p>\n
Asked previously about the preliminary injunction, the DHS insisted federal agents are engaging in protecting American citizens above all other considerations. “Our agents are focused on protecting the American people — not entertaining performative outrage,” according to a statement from DHS.<\/p>\n
The ruling covers L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.<\/p>\n
The judge also rejected the government’s request to delay the order for two weeks while it considers an appeal.<\/p>\n
City News Service contributed to this report<\/p>\n
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