Federal judge bars some warrantless immigration arrests in D.C.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ordered federal immigration officers to stop making arrests there without a warrant unless they could show that a suspect was a flight risk.
It is the latest in a series of decisions in lower courts that have challenged President Trump’s immigration tactics as he escalates his mass deportation agenda and expands his deployment of law enforcement officers to major urban centers across the country. Some of those rulings, however, have been set aside by higher courts.
In an 88-page ruling, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia raised doubt over whether immigration agents in the city had been complying with federal law. She barred the government from making arrests without a warrant or proof that a person could escape before a warrant is obtained.
The decision comes just a week after a federal judge in Denver laid down a similar ruling that determined immigration agents had acted unlawfully by arresting and detaining immigrants — some for as long as 100 days — without showing the required probable cause that they posed a threat of fleeing.
Based on the plaintiffs’ declarations that detailed their arrests, Judge Howell determined that the officers’ failure to consider escape risk “directly violates the clear statutory requirements.” [Continue reading…]