Several advocacy organizations have turned to a federal judge to stop what they say are unlawful federal immigration enforcement arrests, rallying outside a federal court in Los Angeles an hour before a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 13.
They said that federal immigration officers are disregarding a key requirement when making an arrest without a warrant: Whether someone is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. They’re calling for a federal court to block federal immigration enforcement agents — like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — from conducting arrests without a warrant without “establishing any likelihood of escape,” according to a court filing in June.
The law requires “case-by-case, fact-based
determinations” before an arrest can be carried out without a warrant, said Armando Gudiño, executive director of Los Angeles Worker Center Network, in a statement in June.
“It does not authorize sweeping assumptions that entire communities are likely to flee, and constitutional and legal protections must be fully upheld for every person,” Gudiño said.
Speakers from the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights — all organizations that are plaintiffs — were present outside the courthouse in Los Angeles, where more than a dozen people gathered holding signs that said, “ICE out of LA!”
What immigration enforcement officers aren’t doing lawfully, plaintiffs say
Congress allows immigration enforcement officers to make arrests without a warrant only when they have probable cause to believe the person is unlawfully present, and that they are likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, plaintiffs said in a court filing in June.
“That’s not an ‘or,’” said Chandra Bhatnagar, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. “It’s an ‘and.’ They have to establish both of those things.”
Plaintiffs alleged that officers are disregarding the latter requirement under the Trump administration.
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol did not immediately respond to the USA TODAY Network for a request for comment.
Bhatnagar said that a review of 113 arrest records showed nearly 80% either contained no escape risk assessment or “largely rely on boilerplate language.”
“We’ve discovered that agents have arrested people without asking basic questions about their jobs, about their families, their homes or ties to their communities,” Bhatnagar said. “This is unlawful.”
Behind these numbers are workers who’ve been detained, families who’ve been separated and people who are afraid to go to work, Gudiño said.
Agents, when they do document a person’s escape risk, frequently point to a person’s “undocumented status” and “equate” it with escape risk, according to the court filing. For example, due to a person’s “unlawful presence, unlawful status and admission to having resided in the U.S. illegally,” they were “deemed a flight risk.”
If the court blocks this alleged practice, it will apply to arrests in the Central District of California, or San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange counties.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Unlawful.' Why immigration arrests in SoCal are under scrutiny
