In August, President Donald Trump instituted a federal takeover of the D.C. police department after declaring a "crime emergency" in the city. Thousands of federal law enforcement officers and National Guard members were deployed, resulting in a surge of not only criminal arrests but also civil immigration arrests. Over 40 percent of the arrests made during Trump's 30-day federal takeover of D.C. were immigration related, according to the Associated Press. Now, a lawsuit is challenging these arrests, saying that many of them violated federal law.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by four plaintiffs and CASA, a national immigration rights organization, alleges that federal immigration officers did not follow proper procedures when making arrests during Trump's D.C. crackdown. Although immigration agents are allowed to make an immigration arrest without a warrant, the officer must have "reason to believe" that the individual is in the U.S. in violation of any immigration law or regulation and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. This "reason to believe" standard is considered equivalent to probable cause in immigration cases.
Four of the five named plaintiffs in the case were arrested without a warrant, detained, and ultimately released on immigration charges during Trump's federal takeover. In each instance, federal officers failed to either inquire about the plaintiff's legal status or assess whether they were a flight risk, or both, before making an arrest.
