Judge restricts immigration arrests without warrants in DC

On Tuesday, a federal judge curtailed the Trump administrations authority to detain suspected undocumented immigrants in Washington without a warrant, ruling that such arrests are only lawful if authorities believe the individual is likely to flee.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, in an 88-page decision, clarified that federal law permits warrantless arrests when officers have probable cause to believe a person is in the country illegally and poses a flight risk before a warrant can be obtained. The ruling is viewed as a victory for an immigrant advocacy group that filed a lawsuit in September, alleging that authorities implemented a new arrest first, question later approach in August, following the administrations declaration of a crime emergency in the capital.

Government lawyers argued over whether agents were applying a lower threshold than probable cause. However, Judge Howell found that accounts from arrested individuals and multiple public statements from senior officials demonstrated that authorities were indeed acting without proper legal justification.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had previously stated that it uses a reasonable suspicion standard for arrests. Senior officials, including Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, publicly endorsed using a lower threshold. Howell described these statements as blatant misstatements of the law, suggesting they reflect an intentional policy of making warrantless civil immigration arrests without meeting the required probable cause standard.

Rather than attributing these public statements to ignorance or incompetence, it is more straightforward to view them as evidence of an intentional policy of conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests without requisite probable cause, Howell wrote. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit was brought by CASA, Inc., along with noncitizens holding temporary protected status or seeking asylum. Typically, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal agents must obtain an administrative warrant before making arrests. Arrests without a warrant require officers to explain why they believe the individual is undocumented and likely to flee, such as cases involving conflicting documents or admissions of prior deportations.

Howell noted that between August 7 and September 9 this year, 943 immigration arrests occurred, accounting for over 40 percent of all arrests in Washington. The Justice Department had suggested that Miller and Bovino were not legal experts and might not fully grasp terms like probable cause or reasonable suspicion, but the judge dismissed this as a weak justification, highlighting the high rank of the officials involved.

Additionally, the judge criticized immigration agencies for failing to properly identify themselves during arrests, describing the practice as intentionally intimidating. Requiring defendants to document who made each arrest and why is the bare minimum to ensure compliance with the Constitution, Howell stated.

Author: Sophia Brooks