Class-action lawsuit alleges ICE agents have engaged in unlawful detentions without probable cause, creating fear across immigrant communities in the nation’s capital.
Four Washington, D.C. residents and the national immigration organization CASA have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging that federal agents have carried out a wave of illegal immigration arrests across the District since August.
Filed as a class action in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawsuit challenges what plaintiffs describe as a pattern of arrests conducted without warrants or probable cause, in violation of federal immigration law. Under the law, agents can detain someone without a warrant only if they establish probable cause that the person is in the country unlawfully and poses a flight risk.
The suit claims those safeguards have been ignored. Each plaintiff was allegedly arrested without a warrant, detained, and later released. CASA, a plaintiff in the case, said the crackdown has forced the organization to divert resources away from social services to crisis response for detained community members.
One plaintiff, Elias, a CASA member, described his ordeal: “On my way to a life-saving dialysis appointment, I was detained by ICE one mile from the hospital. They ignored my U.S. driver’s license and left me without critical treatment that day, putting my health in immediate danger. I was detained for over eight hours without food or access to my necessary medicine. Since then, I have lived in fear that I could be torn from my family and deported to a place where I cannot get the medical care I need to survive. No one should be treated this way. I am standing up in this lawsuit to make sure ICE is held accountable and stops these unlawful arrests from destroying more lives.”
Advocates say the practice has created widespread fear. “Families should not have to live in fear that simply walking to school, going to work, or attending a doctor’s appointment will result in being abducted and dragged away by federal agents without cause,” said Adina Appelbaum, program director of the Immigration Impact Lab at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “ICE’s wide-sweeping arrests in D.C. are not just cruel; they are blatantly unlawful.”
The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, the ACLU, the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, CASA, the National Immigration Project, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the law firm Covington & Burling LLP.
According to Aditi Shah, staff attorney with the ACLU of D.C., the federal government’s actions are not only illegal but disruptive: “The government’s policy and practice of arresting people without probable cause are illegal and have disrupted everyday life in the District. The policy and practice disregard important limits Congress has established for immigration arrests and have sown terror among immigrant communities and neighborhoods in D.C. Federal agents, like the rest of us, must follow the law.”
The lawsuit comes against the backdrop of President Trump’s August declaration of a “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C. That declaration led to the deployment of federal law enforcement agents, including ICE, and authorized the Department of Justice to direct the Metropolitan Police Department to assist with immigration enforcement. Although the emergency period has since expired, federal immigration arrests in the city have continued.
“For weeks, immigrant communities in D.C. have been living in a state of terror and disruption caused by a policy of indiscriminate targeting being carried out by immigration officials,” said Yulie Landan, staff attorney with the National Immigration Project.
CASA leaders said their members are determined to fight back. “CASA members who live and work in D.C. are being targeted by immigration officials simply for existing,” said Ama Frimpong, legal director at CASA. “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.”
Madeleine Gates, associate counsel at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, added that the fear extends beyond immigrants without legal status. “The federal government has created a culture of fear in D.C., including among U.S. citizens and immigrants with legal status,” she said. “People are justifiably afraid to go to work or even to walk their kids to school. We are determined to end this unlawful policy.”
A virtual press conference featuring the plaintiffs is scheduled for Friday, September 26, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time.