BALTIMORE, Md. (7News) — Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general, including D.C. and Virginia, urging a federal appeals court to keep limits in place for so-called “warrantless” ICE arrests.
The coalition filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in support of a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Colorado in the case Ramirez Ovando v. Mullin.
Under federal law, immigration officers can make an arrest without a warrant only if they have probable cause to believe someone is in the country unlawfully and believe that person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.
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The Colorado court found ICE officers had allegedly made warrantless arrests without making that required flight-risk determination, according to Brown’s office.
“Congress established specific legal requirements that ICE must meet before making a warrantless arrest, and those requirements are not optional,” Brown said. “That is why my Office joined this coalition urging the appeals court to uphold the rule of law and keep those safeguards firmly in place.”
The coalition argued the injunction does not prevent lawful immigration enforcement. Instead, it says the order requires ICE to follow existing federal law and make individualized decisions about whether a person is likely to flee before making a warrantless arrest.
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