Judge to ICE: No Warrantless Arrests in DC Without Proof

A federal judge has halted the Trump administration's practice of making immigration arrests in Washington, DC, without a warrant or clear proof that a person is likely to flee. The preliminary injunction, issued by US District Judge Beryl Howell, was granted after a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups, per Fox News and the AP. The judge found that immigration authorities were likely violating the law by carrying out warrantless arrests without properly assessing whether a person was a flight risk.

Howell's order states that immigration agents must now document and justify, in detail, any decision to arrest someone without a warrant in the nation's capital. This documentation must also be shared with the plaintiffs' attorneys. The ruling aligns with similar court decisions in Colorado and California, also driven by ACLU lawsuits, which have challenged the federal government's approach to immigration enforcement, per Fox. Plaintiffs in the DC case said federal officers were targeting neighborhoods with large Latino immigrant populations and arresting people without proper legal justification.

They submitted sworn statements from individuals arrested without warrants or flight-risk assessments and cited public comments by officials as evidence that the required standards weren't being adhered to. In her 88-page ruling, the judge noted her concerns that high-ranking officials such as Trump adviser Stephen Miller and Border Patrol honcho Greg Bovino have said things that seem to encourage arrests without probable cause, including telling agents to "push the envelope," per the New York Times. The Trump administration, for its part, denied having any policy that allowed for such arrests, per Fox.