"In an outrageous expansion of its authority, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now authorizing its agents to arrest anyone they suspect of being undocumented, even if the officers don't have a warrant and the person isn't a flight risk. The directive, contained in a memo obtained by the New York Times, reverses long-standing ICE policy and effectively renders the warrant requirement itself empty."
"Federal law permits ICE to make warrantless arrests under only two circumstances. The first is when an agent sees someone actively crossing the border illegally. That scenario isn't relevant to the current ICE sweeps, which take place in cities far from the border. The second situation in which the law allows a warrantless arrest, the one addressed by the new memo, is if an ICE officer has reason to believe that someone is in the U.S. without legal authority"
ICE has issued a directive authorizing agents to arrest anyone suspected of being undocumented without a warrant or evidence of flight risk, reversing prior policy and effectively nullifying the warrant requirement. The directive follows another memo suggesting agents could enter homes without judicial warrants, signaling an effort to broaden enforcement powers. Federal law allows warrantless ICE arrests only for witnessed illegal border crossings or when an agent has probable cause that a person is undocumented and likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained. A recent Supreme Court decision lowered the standard to reasonable suspicion, expanding stop authority and permitting actions based on appearance or language.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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