Lawsuit Filed Against ICE Over Warrantless Arrests [Op-Ed]

A lawsuit filed in Maryland challenges the disturbing trend of warrantless arrests made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. 

The Washington Post reports that four Maryland citizens and the immigrant rights group We Are CASA filed the lawsuit. The lawsuit is seeking class action status and a temporary injunction to prevent ICE from conducting warrantless arrests. The lawsuit alleges that ICE has conducted over 5,000 illegal arrests since January 2025. They accuse ICE of using aggressive tactics and engaging in racial profiling while conducting these arrests. 

The lawsuit came only a day after Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) filed a joint brief supporting limits on warrantless ICE arrests in a separate case. “Congress established specific legal requirements that ICE must meet before making a warrantless arrest, and those requirements are not optional,” Brown said in a statement Wednesday.

Samuel Guzman recounted his experience with ICE over the summer to the Post. 

From the Washington Post:

Samuel Guzman was driving to his restaurant job in Annapolis one Sunday in June when he stopped for what he thought would be a quick coffee at a 7-Eleven. He had passed by immigration officers making arrests that morning, and recalls being worried about a co-worker who lived nearby. Guzman, who was born in Maryland but spent his childhood in Mexico, believed he had less to fear.

But as he left the store, Guzman, 24, said he was surrounded by masked officers wearing vests that read “Police ICE.” The officers shoved him against his car, emptied his pockets and put him in handcuffs, Guzman alleges in a new lawsuit. When Guzman told the officers he was a U.S. citizen, he says one replied: “If you are an American citizen, why don’t you speak better English?”

Guzman said he was taken to a nearby parking lot where he was held in handcuffs for more than an hour before being released with no explanation.

“Not only are these arrests extremely devastating, violent, and harmful, they’re also illegal,” Shana Khader, legal director at We Are CASA, said in an interview. “Oftentimes, they are arresting people without even knowing who they are, without even asking their names, without knowing anything about where they’re from or whether they pose a risk of escape.”

Despite being an arm of the self-proclaimed “law and order party,” ICE and federal agents assisting with the Trump administration have been acting lawlessly. From shooting several unarmed people, lying about why they shot unarmed people, to blatant racial profiling, ICE and Border Patrol have been acting as if the laws don’t apply to them. Since the Justice Department is more focused on filing lawsuits against Trump’s perceived enemies, ICE has basically been allowed to operate with impunity. 

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement in response to the lawsuit, denying all the accusations. 

“Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity. ICE has authority for lawful arrests under 8 USC 1357,” the statement reads. “Law enforcement officers use ‘reasonable suspicion’ to investigate immigration status and probable cause to make arrests consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

So basically, they’re calling racial profiling “reasonable suspicion” now. Got it. 

SEE ALSO:

Less Than 14% Of ICE Arrests Have Violent Criminal Histories

Homeland Security Spending Millions On Electric Gloves For ICE

Lawsuit Filed Against ICE In Maryland Over Warrantless Arrests [Op-Ed]
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