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.”
The plaintiffs also submitted 17 declarations from other people who claimed to have either experienced or witnessed warrantless arrests under similar circumstances.
Washington has become a test case for Immigration and Customs Enforcement as the agency works to deepen cooperation with the local police and other federal agencies to identify immigrants during stops for minor traffic violations, helping bolster arrest numbers.
During a hearing to discuss the case in November, Judge Howell homed in on the circumstances of people who were arrested despite pending visa applications or immigration cases.
In a sizable batch of sworn declarations, the groups suing documented the arrests of more than two dozen individuals, who described being swarmed by unmarked vehicles and plainclothes agents, berated and swept to an immigration processing facility in Chantilly, Va. During the hearing, a coalition of immigration groups that brought the lawsuit argued that the government was essentially picking people up at random, without any reason to believe they had broken the law.
Lawyers from the Justice Department pointed to a statement from Kenneth Blanchard Jr., a senior Customs and Border Protection official, contending that in some cases the arrests were in fact “targeted operations.”
In the case of José Escobar Molina, a Salvadoran who was arrested by plainclothes officers before later being released and told his detainment was in error, the statement said that the government had relied on records showing a simple assault charge from 2019 and that his Temporary Protected Status had expired.
“So why not get a warrant?” Judge Howell replied.
In her opinion on Tuesday, Judge Howell raised concerns about instructions handed down by senior officials such as Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president, and Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official.
She noted that both men had appeared to encourage arrests without probable cause, telling agents to “push the envelope” or make indiscriminate arrests outside certain storefronts. Rather than dispute the claim in court, she noted, the Justice Department had merely countered that the claims were made by “non-attorneys” who “don’t necessarily understand” rules surrounding arrests.
“This is a remarkable assertion,” she wrote.
Ashley Ahn covers breaking news for The Times from New York.
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