Federal judge limits immigration arrests without a warrant in Southern California

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Set us as preferred A Los Angeles federal judge has ordered immigration agents to stop making civil arrests without a warrant unless they first determine that a person is likely to escape before one can be obtained.U.S.District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong said in an order granting a preliminary injunction that the government “is regularly abstaining from conducting a likelihood of escape analysis at all” when making arrests without a warrant.

Frimpong’s order applies in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, including Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.It landed on the public docket Wednesday, after it originally was filed under seal on Sept.

2.The ruling requires federal immigration agents to consider the totality of the circumstances known to them before arresting someone without a warrant.“Mere presence within the United States in violation of United States immigration law is not, by itself, sufficient to conclude that a person is likely to escape before a warrant for arrest can be obtained,” Frimpong, an appointee of President Biden, wrote in her order.

When agents make a civil immigration arrest in the district, Frimpong ordered them to document the circumstances, including the “specific, particularized facts” that show probable cause, pre-arrest, that the person was likely to escape before a warrant could be obtained.Frimpong denied the government’s request to stay the order for 14 days while it considered whether to appeal.The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as and Customs and Border Protection, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Frimpong’s ruling stems from a lawsuit filed last year by the American Civil Liberties ...