WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal district court in Washington, D.C., heard arguments today on the Trump administration’s ongoing defiance of a judicial order halting the government’s policy and practice of conducting immigration arrests in the nation’s capital without a warrant and without probable cause.

Four local residents and We Are CASA filed the class-action lawsuit against the administration in September, after masked, plainclothes federal agents flooded the  District and began indiscriminately arresting individuals they perceived to be Latino. 

In December, a federal court issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Trump administration to stop conducting warrantless arrests in D.C. without making individualized probable cause determinations that the person being arrested is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. The court’s opinion called the agency’s conduct a “systemic failure” that “directly violates clear statutory requirements.” In a new motion filed with the court last month, advocates presented evidence collected since the ruling showing that federal agents have continued enforcing the unlawful policy despite the court’s clear order.

The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, American Civil Liberties Union, Amica Center for Immigrants’ Rights, We Are CASA, National Immigration Project, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the law firm of Covington & Burling. 

During today’s hearing, community members rallied outside the courthouse to demand enforcement of the court’s order and accountability for the administration for defying the order.

“While warrantless arrests in D.C. have decreased since the court’s preliminary injunction in December, the Trump administration continues to arrest people in D.C. without probable cause and in violation of the injunction,” said Austin Rose, managing attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. “We will continue fighting to protect our D.C. neighbors from these warrantless arrests, which serve no purpose other than filling ICE’s arbitrary quotas.”

“As we heard in court today, families across the DMV are still at risk of being racially profiled by ICE and detained on their way to work, school and even medical appointments. Parents are at risk of being stopped while dropping off their children, and workers are at risk of being taken while simply trying to earn a living. That is unacceptable and a direct violation of the court’s ruling,” said Shana Khader, deputy legal director at We Are CASA. “Immigration agents are not above the law. Everyone in D.C. has rights, regardless of their immigration status, and federal agents are required to respect them. We will be submitting additional argument to reinforce what was raised in court today. Our community deserves a clear and decisive ruling that upholds their rights and holds federal agents accountable.”

“The administration is openly defying the court’s order, and their own paperwork proves it,” said Aditi Shah, staff attorney with the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “The government isn’t following the steps that the law and the court’s order demand before arresting people for immigration violations. No agency or administration is above the law.”

“The court’s order was clear, and it was not optional,” said Madeleine Gates, associate counsel at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “Yet the evidence shows that the government is continuing to enforce its unlawful policy. Federal agents must respect the rights of our community members under both federal law and the preliminary injunction.”

“Immigration agencies and officers cannot ignore the courts and terrorize our communities without consequence,” said Yulie Landan, staff attorney with the National Immigration Project. “A federal court ordered these unlawful arrests to stop, and we are here today because the government chose to defy that order. We will be in this courtroom, in these streets, and everywhere it takes to make clear that our communities will not be criminalized.”