U.S. Citizen Detained by Mistake Sues Miami-Dade Over Immigration Enforcement

[CaliCat 3,957]

The 4th Amendment.. LOL. In this administration?!? 

 

U.S. Citizen Detained by Mistake Sues Miami-Dade Over Immigration Enforcement

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/us/immigration-sanctuary-lawsuit-miami.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4&rref=us&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article

 

Immigration lawyers in Miami-Dade County are challenging its practice of jailing people on behalf of federal immigration authorities, in a case that could test the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure so-called sanctuary cities and counties.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Federal District Court in Miami, lawyers representing a local resident, Garland Creedle, argued that the county had violated his Fourth Amendment right against unlawful seizure.

The practice at issue is one in which federal immigration authorities send requests, known as detainers, to local police departments or jails asking them to hold people they are about to release so that immigration authorities can go arrest them. During his first week in office, President Trump signed an executive order threatening to withhold billions of federal dollars from cities and counties that ignored detainers, saying that such places, sometimes known as sanctuary cities, were helping to harbor dangerous criminals.

Shortly after Mr. Trump signed the order, the Miami-Dade mayor, Carlos A. Giménez, directed his corrections department to honor the requests, saying the county could not afford to lose funding. So after Mr. Creedle, 18, posted bail in March in a domestic dispute case, which was later dropped, he was held in custody overnight on the suspicion that he was an undocumented immigrant.

 

The detainer was not only unconstitutional, Mr. Creedle’s lawyers said, but also uncalled for. Mr. Creedle was born in Honduras but gained United States citizenship through his fathr, who is also a citizen. The government let him go once it realized the mistake.

“It goes to show just how sloppy this is,” said Rebecca Sharpless, a lawyer representing Mr. Creedle and the head of the University of Miami Law School’s immigration clinic. “What immigration does is check a box on a boilerplate form saying they have probable cause to hold someone in custody, and that is supposed to be constitutionally sufficient to detain them.”

“That’s what we’re saying is wrong,” she said.

The case could test an argument that many immigration lawyers and sanctuary cities have made: that detainers may violate the Fourth Amendment because they do not carry the same burden of proof as, say, an arrest warrant signed by a judge.

Nestor Yglesias, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said the agency could not comment on Mr. Creedle’s case because of the pending litigation. In general, he said, “ICE lodges detainers on aliens who were arrested on local criminal charges when the agency has probable cause to believe an alien is removable from the United States.” He said that ICE officers were trained on how to meet the standard of probable cause.

The case in Miami also demonstrates the quandary confronting law enforcement agencies in the Trump era: They face both threats of punishment from the federal government for disregarding the wishes of immigration authorities, and legal challenges for heeding them.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

4 minutes ago, CaliCat said:

The 4th Amendment.. LOL. In this administration?!? 

 

U.S. Citizen Detained by Mistake Sues Miami-Dade Over Immigration Enforcement

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/05/us/immigration-sanctuary-lawsuit-miami.html?ribbon-ad-idx=4&rref=us&module=Ribbon&version=context&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&pgtype=article

 

Immigration lawyers in Miami-Dade County are challenging its practice of jailing people on behalf of federal immigration authorities, in a case that could test the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure so-called sanctuary cities and counties.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Federal District Court in Miami, lawyers representing a local resident, Garland Creedle, argued that the county had violated his Fourth Amendment right against unlawful seizure.

The practice at issue is one in which federal immigration authorities send requests, known as detainers, to local police departments or jails asking them to hold people they are about to release so that immigration authorities can go arrest them. During his first week in office, President Trump signed an executive order threatening to withhold billions of federal dollars from cities and counties that ignored detainers, saying that such places, sometimes known as sanctuary cities, were helping to harbor dangerous criminals.

Shortly after Mr. Trump signed the order, the Miami-Dade mayor, Carlos A. Giménez, directed his corrections department to honor the requests, saying the county could not afford to lose funding. So after Mr. Creedle, 18, posted bail in March in a domestic dispute case, which was later dropped, he was held in custody overnight on the suspicion that he was an undocumented immigrant.

 

The detainer was not only unconstitutional, Mr. Creedle’s lawyers said, but also uncalled for. Mr. Creedle was born in Honduras but gained United States citizenship through his fathr, who is also a citizen. The government let him go once it realized the mistake.

“It goes to show just how sloppy this is,” said Rebecca Sharpless, a lawyer representing Mr. Creedle and the head of the University of Miami Law School’s immigration clinic. “What immigration does is check a box on a boilerplate form saying they have probable cause to hold someone in custody, and that is supposed to be constitutionally sufficient to detain them.”

“That’s what we’re saying is wrong,” she said.

The case could test an argument that many immigration lawyers and sanctuary cities have made: that detainers may violate the Fourth Amendment because they do not carry the same burden of proof as, say, an arrest warrant signed by a judge.

Nestor Yglesias, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said the agency could not comment on Mr. Creedle’s case because of the pending litigation. In general, he said, “ICE lodges detainers on aliens who were arrested on local criminal charges when the agency has probable cause to believe an alien is removable from the United States.” He said that ICE officers were trained on how to meet the standard of probable cause.

The case in Miami also demonstrates the quandary confronting law enforcement agencies in the Trump era: They face both threats of punishment from the federal government for disregarding the wishes of immigration authorities, and legal challenges for heeding them.

Better carry our papers!