Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joined a coalition of 22 state attorneys general in filing a brief with a federal appeals court urging it to uphold a lower court order requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to comply with statutory safeguards when making warrantless civil arrests.
The coalition filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Ramirez Ovando v. Mullin, arguing that the preliminary injunction against ICE serves the public interest by requiring immigration officers to operate within legal guardrails. Federal law allows immigration officers to make warrantless arrests only when they determine there is probable cause a person is unlawfully present and likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.
A federal district court in Colorado issued the preliminary injunction after finding that ICE officers had made unlawful warrantless arrests without determining whether individuals were likely to flee. The court later found ICE continued making arrests in violation of the injunction. Federal officials appealed the decision.
The coalition argues that the flight-risk requirement prevents agents from making warrantless arrests without individualized determination that a person is likely to escape. Disregarding this safeguard has widespread consequences, the brief states, including reduced school attendance, disruptions to businesses and local economies, avoidance of medical care, and diminished trust in law enforcement that makes victims and witnesses less likely to report crimes.
The coalition argues the injunction does not interfere with lawful immigration enforcement but instead requires officers to operate within Congressional limits and protects the public from harms caused when federal agents act outside their authority. The coalition is co-led by the attorneys general of Colorado and California, and includes attorneys general from Arizona, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.