ICE Detained Lawful US Resident Based on His 'Perceived' Ethnicity: Class Action Lawsuit

A new class action lawsuit is accusing immigration enforcement officials of arresting and detaining residents in Washington, DC without probable cause and based primarily on their "perceived" ethnicity.

The complaint, which was filed on Thursday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Washington, DC have engaged in a pattern "indiscriminately arresting" local residents whom they "perceive to be Latino" without warrants or probable cause.

The lead plaintiff in the case is José Escobar Molina, a 47-year-old man who was born in El Salvador but who has lived legally in Washington, DC for more than two decades after being granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2001.

According to the complaint, Escobar Molina was accosted last month by "plain-clothed and unidentified federal agents" who handcuffed him and arrested him "without a warrant and without asking for his name, his identification, or anything about his immigration status."

Escobar Molina was subsequently detained overnight at an ICE facility in Virginia before a supervisor ordered him released after learning he had valid TPS.

However, the complaint says that being detained without a warrant for no apparent reason other than his ethnicity—in addition to violating the law—has left psychological scars on Escobar Molina, as he now "fears being arrested and detained again while going about his daily life in DC."

The lawsuit goes on to document the experiences of several other Washington, DC residents, many of whom have pending asylum claims, who were similarly taken off the streets and detained by agents who presented no arrest warrants.

"Because of the widespread nature of the arrests... those who live and work in DC, particularly those of Latino ethnicity, face a substantial risk that they will be subjected to unlawful warrantless arrests in the near future," the complaint argues.

The complaint concludes by accusing ICE agents of violating federal law stating that they may only make a warrantless immigration arrest if they have probable cause to believe that the person being arrested is "in violation of any [immigration] law or regulation" and if they are "likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained" for their arrest.

It then asks the court to enjoin ICE's "policy and practice of making warrantless immigration arrests without making a pre-arrest individualized assessment of probable cause" that the person is illegally in the US.

Ama Frimpong, legal director at immigrant and working-class advocacy organization CASA, said that her organization signed on to be a plaintiff in the lawsuit because its own members had suffered under ICE's warrantless arrest policies.

“CASA members who live and work in DC are being targeted by immigration officials simply for existing,” she explained. “With this lawsuit, our members are making it clear: They have had enough of the federal government’s lawlessness and abuse of power. They will not be intimidated or silenced. They will continue to fight until the government is held accountable."

Aditi Shah, staff attorney with the ACLU of the District of Columbia, expressed support for the lawsuit and said that ICE's warrantless arrest policy has "disrupted everyday life" in DC, while also ignoring "important limits Congress has established for immigration arrests."