ICE agents can’t make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there’s a risk of escape, US judge rules

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop detaining people without warrants unless they are likely to flee, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction on a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of detaining immigrants encountered during stepped-up enforcement operations; critics described it as “arrest first, justify later”.

The department, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately comment upon request from The Associated Press.

Similar actions, including by immigration agents entering private property without permission These allegations, issued by a court, sparked concern from civil rights groups across the country over President Donald Trump’s stance. mass deportation efforts.

Courts in Colorado and Washington, D.C., issued rulings like Kasubhai’s, and the government appealed them.

Last week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting chief Todd Lyons stressed in a memo that agents should not make warrantless arrests. administrative arrest warrant It is issued by a superior unless a superior establishes probable cause that the person is in the United States illegally and is likely to flee the scene before an arrest warrant is obtained.

But the judge heard evidence that agents in Oregon detained people in immigration operations without such warrants or without determining that escape was likely.

The day-long hearing included the testimony of one of the plaintiffs, 56-year-old grandfather Victor Cruz Gamez, who has been in the USA since 1999. Gamez told the court he was arrested and is being held in a jail. immigrant detention facility for three weeks despite having a valid work permit and a pending visa application.

Cruz Gamez stated that he was stopped by immigration officers on his way home from work in October. Despite showing his driver’s license and work permit, he was detained and taken to the ICE building in Portland before being sent to an immigration detention center in Tacoma, Washington. After three weeks there, he said he would be deported until the lawyer could secure his release.

He broke down in tears as he described how the arrest affected his family, especially his wife. Through a Spanish translator, he said that when he returned home, they did not open the door for three weeks out of fear and that one of his grandchildren did not want to go to school.

A federal government attorney later told Cruz Gamez that he was sorry for what he had experienced and the impact it had had on them.

Kasubhai said the actions of agents in Oregon, including pulling guns on people while detaining them for civil immigration violations, were “violent and brutal” and that he was concerned about the administration’s denial of due process to those caught in immigration raids.

“Due process requires great restraint from those with great power,” he said. “This is the foundation of a democratic republic built on this great constitution. I think we’re losing that.”

The lawsuit was filed by nonprofit law firm Innovation Law Lab, and Stephen Manning, the company’s chief executive, said he was confident the case would be “a catalyst for change here in Oregon.”

“That’s basically what this case is about: asking the government to follow the law,” he said during the hearing.

The interim injunction will remain in effect as long as the case is pending.

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Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.