Colorado Judge Says ICE Can’t Arrest People Without A Warrant
from the America-ain't-your-Gitmo,-bro dept
The Trump administration is so sure it can get away with anything that it’s willing to try anything. That misapprehension of the situation has resulted in at least 200 rulings against the administration’s anti-immigrant efforts. Still, the regime persists with its attempts to brute force constitutional rights out of existence.
Like it or not, MAGA faithful, immigrants have rights. They have the rights natural born citizens have access to, which is certainly something the Trump administration doesn’t think is true, even though it is.
The administration got a big win from the Supreme Court in terms of violating Fourth Amendment rights. In a solo concurrence, Justice Kavanaugh made it clear the majority believed there is nothing wrong with rounding up people simply because they look a bit more brown than white on the outside.
Meanwhile, ICE pretends it’s still targeting criminals, even when all data says otherwise. It continues to claim it’s going after known criminals but its paperwork doesn’t match its public statements. If it was really going after criminals, it should be able to obtain arrest warrants. The fact that it rarely has anything more than administrative warrants (self-issued warrants without judicial backing) in its possession at any given time contradicts its assertions about its alleged “targeted” enforcement efforts.
The Trump administration continues to get railed on the regular by federal courts. The latest is no exception:
A federal judge in Denver on Tuesday ordered federal immigration officers to stop making arrests in Colorado without a warrant, unless the detainee posed a flight risk, the latest in a string of lower-court decisions rebuking President Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics.
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In Colorado, Judge Jackson, an appointee of President Barack Obama, found that immigration agents had acted unlawfully by arresting and detaining immigrants — some for as long as 100 days — without showing the required probable cause that they posed a threat of fleeing.
This decision aligns itself with several others. Unfortunately, the body of judicial work ruling against Trump’s anti-immigration programs hasn’t really changed anything. Many rulings have been appealed. What has yet to be heard by the Supreme Court has often been given a pass by appellate judges.
And even if a court rules definitively against Trump, there’s no reason to believe this administration will act in accordance with the ruling. Emil Bove — the former DOJ lawyer who told prosecutors to tell the courts to fuck themselves if they opposed Trump — is now sitting on the Third Circuit. Other rulings delivered by federal courts have been immediately stayed by appellate courts who normally would have allowed things to play out at the lower level before undercutting their findings.
What’s happening here affects a lot of rights beyond the immediate recognition of Fourth Amendment incursion. These warrantless arrests are often followed by indefinite detentions that involve violations of Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This government is plain nasty. It has zero interest in the rule of law. It wants to be the bully on the block at all times. If the system of checks and balances rears it head, the administration will either ignore the concerns raised or engage in unprecedented attacks on the judiciary itself. Pointing out the incompetency of Trump administration thugs is about as useless as criticizing the GPA of the person beating your skull to pulp with a baseball bat. The end result is the same. Any legitimate points raised mid-beating won’t do anything to reduce the CTE trauma. It’s best to assume bad faith from the beginning because this is the administration’s sole operating speed.
Filed Under: 4th amendment, border patrol, cbp, colorado, denver, due process, ice, mass deportation, trump administration
Comments on “Colorado Judge Says ICE Can’t Arrest People Without A Warrant”
I’m eager to heard with Krazy Noem has to say about it. Pretty much certain it’ll be “F* U” but she may try harder and come with some new dumb arguments.
yeah, ICE is definitely in the wrong here — but, American cops everywhere routinely arrest people without an arrest warrant.
way too late for judges to suddenly get picky about 4th Amendment
Okay, so, after Karl complained about bullshit “A.I.” headlines yesterday, the presumably-human-written headline to this story is revealed as bullshit.
The judge said ICE can’t legally arrest people without a warrant… except for that “flight risk” case. But ICE agents have already proven that they can arrest people without a warrant. And the judge hasn’t disbanded the agency, taken away their guns, or even imprisoned anyone for illegal behavior, so it’ll be just as easy tomorrow.
Think of Trump’s people like the bad guy from Die Hard 2: “Damn it, you can’t do this!” “I am doing this.”
If they posed a flight risk, there would be no reason to arrest them in the first place.
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Assuming immigration status were a valid reason to arrest someone, that would depend whether they were planning to flee within or outside the country.
But, hell, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s been hoping to flee to Costa Rica, and the administration is fighting that. The cruelty is the point, as they say; it’ll make foreigners think twice about coming to the U.S.
Hey now, credit where it’s due: this government is extraordinarily nasty.
I have to agree with legal scholar Asha Rangappa on situations like this: it may not change anything right away or at all, which might make you feel helpless and tempt you to throw up your hands and give up, but having it on the record could be vitally important in the future.
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Do they?
Immigrants have rights, illegal aliens do not. Learn the difference.
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The Trump admin insists that only citizens have rights, despite what the law says.
Meanwhile, illegal aliens also have rights under the law, even though they’re often ignored with impunity.
Immigrants have MORE rights than illegal aliens, of course — almost as many rights as citizens. But there are a number of rights and freedoms outlined in the constitution that apply to humans in general, and don’t depend on legal status or even physical location.
We know how this will go.
ICE will wave an administrative warrant they issued themselves and declare themselves to be compliant.
Judge will point out that administrative warrants are not issued by Article III courts and cannot be used to trigger Article III powers.
ICE will say “exactly” and declare that since they are not working under Article III authority, they can simply do what they do as a function completely divorced from Article III and entirely under powers delegated by congress to the executive, plus all the stuff they added.
Judge will remind that Loper-Bright means that they do not need to defer to ICE’s previously almost blanket authority to make stuff up and let it be law.
ICE will then simply remove those complaining from American jurisdiction and claim that nobody has standing is available, ta dah!
That is literally how they construct their authority, btw. They are law enforcement but not Law Enforcement. They are police in the most generic and metaphorical way possible. They exist because the founders did not anticipate that a hundred years after the Constitution gets ratified, congress would make up what would become of all this out of a theory that “if it’s not covered by the constitution, it’s fine” theory. Never mind that the power in question is actually not enumerated or even implied, it literally isn’t and really should not be. The Constitution addresses naturalization, it does not contemplate that congress can simply attach a step in front of it and claim power over that step and then delegate all the powers under the sun to an agency that doesn’t answer to Article III courts while pretending as if they do when it’s convenient. It helps that when entire populations are excluded by law for a century those voices simply aren’t at the table until the power ossifies and becomes part of stare decisis.
So they will drag it out until it’s rendered moot by themselves. What else is new? They are happy not being real cops, since you know what really gets in the way of their work? Gideon v. Wainwright, if it applied. But that’s entirely an Article III matter. They’re not part of Article III, they don’t even know what it says. They can follow anyone’s orders they want. Stephen Miller doesn’t have enumerated powers, his position is literally made up out of thin air, never mind authority. But if the agency chooses to treat him as their boss, who gets to stop them? Who has standing that they can’t get rid of?
TL;DR: ICE is what the Chewbacca defense looks like in practice. Good luck.
Trump administration: “That order can’t stop us because we
can’twon’t read!”If you can’t deport people on Trumped up charges, how can you deport them? Next up, they’ll stick them on a boat, shoot them and claim they were smuggling drugs.
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Illegal aliens should not have the same rights as a legal citizen or registered alien as far as I am concerned. They entered our country illegally and should be arrested, heavily prosecuted and then deported to whatever shit-hole country they came from
These people are not welcome here. They are not wanted here. They are a drain on our healthcare system, drive down real wages and frankly have no intention of assimilating into our culture. They’ve got to go.
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If you’re removing rights from one class of people, they’re no longer rights, they’re privileges. But, fair enough, you don’t believe in basic rights.
Also, your entire second paragraph is simply lies and bullshit. The history of America is that we absolutely do welcome immigrants to this country, especially those seeking a better life. And the evidence does not show (at all) that they drain healthcare or drive down wages. In fact it’s the opposite. They tend to be a boon for the economy.
The claim that “they have no intention of assimilating” is racist bullshit that has been said about every immigrant group ever and it has ALWAYS been wrong.
We get it. You’re a bigot who doesn’t believe in human rights. Weird choice to be so public about it, but okay.
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Firstly I have absolutely nothing against immigration when it is conducted legally. If you want to come to our country in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness I am all for it. I wouldn’t be an American today if my ancestors hadn’t immigrated to our country from Peru. So I am not against actual immigration. I want people to move here but I also want them to assimilate into our culture. Follow our laws, learn basic English and for Christs sake don’t try to import the same policies and/or ideologies from the country/culture you’re fleeing from. This is especially true in respect to the Middle East and Islam.
You can call me a bigot or whatever terminology you choose to use. I honestly don’t care. Massive unfiltered immigration is a threat to the future of the Western world. Look at France, Germany and even Sweden. They’ve permitted so much immigration from the Middle East that they’re in danger of becoming predominantly Islamic within the next few decades. I wouldn’t be surprised if by 2050 we’re calling France of today as the “Islamic Caliphate of France”.
How tolerant must we be of foreign cultures and religions when they run counter to the very foundational beliefs of the Western world? Look I know you have a different viewpoint on this and I can respect that. My viewpoint isn’t based on idealism and a dream. I’m a realist and a pragmatist.
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If you support what ICE is doing, then you ABSOLUTELY do have something against immigration done legally. A ton of the people being detained and deported entered the country legally under the asylum system, and they were given court dates for their asylum cases. And Trump is deporting them anyway. Same with people with green cards.
The exact same thing was said about Catholics, Jews, Irish, Italians, and more during the waves when they all first came over. And what happened? Literally every one of them assimilated over time. Only racist shits pretend that doesn’t happen.
You really need to change your media diet. You’re being fed racist bullshit propaganda.
That’s not happening. You’re being lied to and you’re too gullible to realize that people are playing you like a fiddle to be a racist asshole.
Seriously, change your media diet. That’s not happening.
You’re a gullible, ignorant, bigot who is being played by racist billionaires who want to keep you stupid and mad. Pathetic.
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Every time I hear this I ask the person if they know how difficult it is for someone to “get legal” under our current system. And the responses so far have all been incorrect.
The word “legally” is sweeping a LOT under the rug here.
Re: Re: Re: Europe
“Look at France, Germany and even Sweden. They’ve permitted so much immigration from the Middle East that they’re in danger of becoming predominantly Islamic within the next few decades.”
Ummm…. no. I live there. If you actually read up history, then France has always been involved with Northern Africa – in the ‘good old days’ of colonialism. So there have always been Muslims in France. Many.
And in Germany, too. all the immigrants from Turkey ever since post-WWII helping to rebuild our country…
And yes, we might have accepted a few too many in the past years, but could you just stand by and whatch then drown? How cruel .
unfortunately, the QuiverFull movement has arrived here also. THAT is scary.
Good step one, but the real important part comes now
Cool, the judge ruled that they can’t legally arrest people without a warrant unless they claim ‘Flight risk'(which I’m sure they’d never due without good reason), not what does the judge plan on doing when the US gestapo continues to do that anyway? Because it’s not a question of will they ignore this ruling, but how soon and how frequently.