DENVER — A federal judge in Colorado ruled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents can only arrest people without a warrant if they believe them to be a flight risk.
The 66-page decision was issued Tuesday by U.S. District Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson.
The ACLU of Colorado, Hans Meyer, and other attorneys brought about the challenge. On Wednesday, Denver7 spoke with Meyer about the decision, which he called an "unmitigated win."
"This is a really important watershed decision here in Colorado, and one of the bigger decisions around immigration that we've seen in the state in the last decade," Meyer told Denver7. "What the judge ruled was that ICE has a pattern and practice of engaging in warrant-less arrests in violation of federal law."
He added, "The violation is that they don't do a flight risk analysis, and as a result, they're breaking federal law when they're making immigration arrests."
Denver7 also reached out to the ACLU of Colorado for comment. No one was available to speak on-camera, but a spokesperson said the following statement:
“ICE’s actions have proven that their agents will violate the law to carry out these discriminatory arrests, and the agency will do nothing to hold them accountable. Instead, ICE allows these unlawful actions to happen with no consequences. Requiring ICE to turn over these police reports to the ACLU of Colorado will help to ensure ICE is in fact complying with the judge’s order regarding these warrantless arrests.”
While Meyer described the ruling as a win, the Department of Homeland Security disagrees. In a statement, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the following:
“This activist ruling is a brazen effort to hamstring the Trump administration from fulfilling the President’s mandate to deport the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.
Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. There are no “indiscriminate” stops being made. DHS conducts enforcement operations in line with the U.S. Constitution and all applicable federal laws without fear, favor, or prejudice.
The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question elsewhere, and we look forward to further vindication in this case as well.”
Meyer, the ACLU and others brought the challenge on behalf of four plaintiffs. One of them was the Utah college student who was arrested and later detained in a detention center for two weeks.
Meyer told Denver7 some of the plaintiffs will have their ankle monitors removed and will have their bonds returned, according to the ruling.
Another part of the decision requires ICE to better document the detentions it makes and to randomly select arrest warrants the agency has made in order to monitor their compliance.
Meyer told Denver7 those details are still being worked out.
"We're trying to work out the details of what the compliance monitoring looks like, that will probably unfold over the next couple of weeks in terms of what the details look like, but I think it's an important check," he said.
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