Denver — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Colorado immigration officers can only arrest people without a warrant if they believe they are likely to flee.
Chief U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson ordered the order in a legal challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and other attorneys.
They represent four people, including asylum seekers, who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without warrants this year as part of President Donald Trump’s increased immigration enforcement actions. The lawsuit accuses immigration officers of arbitrarily arresting Latinos to achieve enforcement goals without evaluating what is required to legally detain them.
All of those who sued have long-standing ties to their communities, and no reasonable officer could conclude they were likely to flee before obtaining an arrest warrant, Jackson said.
He added that before arresting someone without a warrant, immigration officers must have probable cause to believe that someone is in the country illegally and is likely to flee before obtaining an arrest warrant, under federal law. Jackson also said immigration officers need to document their reasons for arresting someone.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, called the ruling an “activist ruling” and said the department was following the law.
“Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically false,” she said in a statement.
The ruling is similar to one handed down earlier this year in a case brought by another chapter of the ACLU of California Arrests by border guards. The government appealed this ruling.
Another judge also issued a restraining order barring federal agents from stopping people based on their race, language, occupation or location in the Los Angeles area after finding they were making random arrests. supreme court Raise this matter In September.
McLaughlin suggested the government would appeal the Colorado ruling.
“We have recently been vindicated by the Supreme Court on this issue elsewhere, and we look forward to further vindication in this case as well,” she said.