Several Washington, D.C., residents have filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and Trump administration officials for allegedly making indiscriminate “warrantless immigration arrests without probable cause” throughout the city.
“Over the past month and a half, plain-clothed, masked, and armed federal agents have flooded the streets of the nation’s capital, indiscriminately arresting without warrants and without probable cause District residents whom the agents perceive to be Latino,” attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.
The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday morning.
The lawsuit says that several of those arrested “experience[d] significant physical and psychological harm,” including those released from detainment. Five plaintiffs filed the complaint, including four individuals who were detained by immigration authorities.
Plaintiff José Escobar Molina has Temporary Protected Status in the United States from El Salvador and was arrested by immigration authorities without any inquiries or warrants, the complaint said.
“After ICE detained Mr. Escobar Molina overnight at its processing center in Chantilly, Virginia, the next day an ICE supervisor finally realized that he had valid TPS, which statutorily prohibits ICE from detaining him, and released him. Due to his Latino ethnicity, Mr. Escobar Molina fears being arrested and detained again while going about his daily life in D.C.,” Attorneys for the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers do not need to show warrants to make arrests, according to the agency’s Frequently Asked Questions website page, which was updated on Sept. 10.
“ICE does not need judicial warrants to make arrests. Like all other law enforcement officers, ICE officers and agents can initiate consensual encounters and speak with people, briefly detain aliens when they have reasonable suspicion that the aliens are illegally present in the United States, and arrest people they believe are illegal aliens,” the website says.
Each of the arrests listed in the complaint occurred in August after President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in D.C. and federalized the Metropolitan Police Department.
“Allegations that DHS law enforcement officers engage in “racial profiling” are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE,” DHS Assistant Secretary Trish McLaughlin said. “What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. Under the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests. There are no “indiscriminate stops” being made. The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question. DHS enforces federal immigration law without fear, favor, or prejudice.
“This type of garbage is directly contributing to ICE officers facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them, as well as months repeated attacks on ICE facilities like the fatal one in Dallas just yesterday. Race-baiting opportunism in the form of a baseless lawsuit is no better than when it comes from politicians or activists.”
The complaint specifically named Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons as several of the Trump administration officials in the filing. Several immigrant rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Washington, D.C.-based law firms represent the plaintiffs. The ACLU will hold a virtual press conference regarding the lawsuit on Friday.
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“The government’s policy and practice of arresting people without probable cause are illegal and have disrupted everyday life in the District,” Aditi Shah, staff attorney for D.C.’s ACLU, said in a statement. “The policy and practice disregard important limits Congress has established for immigration arrests and have sown terror among immigrant communities and neighborhoods in D.C. Federal agents, like the rest of us, must follow the law.”
