US Judge Rules ICE Raids Require Judicial Warrants, Contradicting Secret ICE Memo

A federal judge The state of Minnesota ruled Saturday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents violated the Fourth Amendment after forcibly entering a Minnesota man’s home without a court warrant. The agents’ conduct closely mirrors a previously undisclosed ICE directive that claims agents are allowed to enter people’s homes without a warrant signed by a judge.

The ruling, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Bryan in response to a habeas corpus petition on Jan. 17, did not evaluate the legality of ICE’s internal directives themselves. But it clearly asserts that federal agents violated the United States Constitution when they entered a residence without consent and without a warrant signed by a judge; the same conditions that ICE management privately told agents were sufficient for house arrests, according to a complaint filed by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal group representing public and private sector whistleblowers.

In an affidavit, Garrison Gibson, a Liberian national who has lived in Minnesota for years under an ICE supervision order, claims agents arrived at his home early on the morning of Jan. 11 while his family was asleep inside. He said he refused to open the door and repeatedly demanded a court warrant. According to the statement, the officers first left, then returned with a larger group, deployed pepper spray on neighbors who had gathered outside and used a battering ram to force the door open.

The declaration was filed as part of a lawsuit filed Jan. 12 in Minnesota against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem challenging federal immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities, which state officials call an unconstitutional advance by ICE and other agents that has rocked Minneapolis and St. Paul and drawn comparisons to an “invasion” by local leaders and activists.

Federal officials did not challenge Gibson’s habeas petition.

Gibson, who reportedly fled the Liberian civil war as a child, claims agents entered his home without showing a warrant. His wife, who was filming at the time, warned that there were children inside, he said, and that officers with guns were standing at the door. “One officer repeatedly stated ‘we’re getting the papers’ in response to his request to see the warrant,” he said. “But without presenting a warrant, and apparently without having one, five to six agents intervened as if they were entering a war zone.”

Only after he was handcuffed, Gibson said, did officers show his wife a warrant.

A day after the judge ordered Gibson’s immediate release, ICE agents took him back into custody as he showed up for a routine immigration check at a Minnesota immigration office, according to his attorney, Marc Prokosch, who said Gibson arrived believing the court order had resolved the problem.

“We were there for a recording and the original officer said, ‘That looks good, I’ll be right back,'” Prokosch told the Associated Press. “And then there was a lot of chaos, and about five police officers came out and said, ‘We’re going to take him back into custody.’ I was like, “Really, do you want to do this again?” »

The new arrest did not overturn the court’s finding that ICE violated the Fourth Amendment during the warrantless entry into the home, but highlights how the agency retains its civil detention power even if a judge rules that a specific arrest was unconstitutional.

Court records reviewed by The Associated Press show Gibson’s criminal history consists of a single felony conviction dating to 2008, as well as minor traffic violations and low-level arrests. The 2008 conviction, cited by ICE in its deportation order, was later reportedly thrown out by the courts.