Federal judge rules ICE agents in Colorado may only arrest illegal immigrants likely to flee

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE agents in Colorado may only arrest illegal immigrants without a warrant if the targets are likely to flee U S District Senior Judge R Brooke Jackson's order comes after a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and other lawyers on behalf of four people including asylum-seekers who were arrested by ICE without warrants earlier this year as part of President Donald Trump s crackdown on immigration The lawsuit accuses immigration agents of indiscriminately arresting Latinos to meet the Trump administration's immigration enforcement goals without evaluating the requirements to legally detain them APPEALS COURT BLOCKS ORDER LIMITING IMMIGRATION AGENTS' USE OF FORCE IN CHICAGOThe judge noted each of the plaintiffs had long-standing ties to their communities and no reasonable agent could have supposed they were likely to flee before obtaining a warrant Under federal law immigration agents must have probable cause to believe someone is in the country illegally and likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained in order to arrest them without one Jackson stated Immigration agents are also required to document the reasons for arresting someone IMMIGRANTS FINED UP TO MILLION FOR REMAINING IN US SUE TRUMP ADMINISTRATIONDepartment of Homeland Assurance spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called Jackson's decision an activist ruling and explained the department follows the law Assertions that DHS law enforcement engages in 'racial profiling' are disgusting reckless and categorically FALSE she announced in a declaration Jackson's ruling is similar to a separate decision issued earlier this year in a scenario brought by the ACLU in California involving arrests by immigration agents The federal governing body has appealed that ruling Another judge prohibited immigration agents from targeting people based solely on factors such as their race language job or location after concluding that agents were carrying out indiscriminate stops The Supreme Court lifted the restraining order in that affair in September The Supreme Court in recent days vindicated us on this question elsewhere and we look forward to further vindication in this circumstance as well McLaughlin announced suggesting the administration would appeal Jackson's ruling The Associated Press contributed to this summary