ICE Immigration Stops

U.S. Congressman Dan Goldman (D–NY) claims that the Supreme Court is “out of control” because it is allowing ICE to “make unconstitutional arrests based solely on race.”

IN FACT, the Court ruled that ICE can’t interrogate people based on “apparent ethnicity alone,” may only “briefly stop” them to “inquire about immigration status,” and can’t arrest them unless they are “illegally in the United States.” Here are key excerpts from the ruling:

Federal law “authorizes” ICE to “interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States.”
ICE “may briefly detain” an individual “for questioning” if they have “a reasonable suspicion, based on specific articulable facts, that the person being questioned” is an “alien illegally in the United States.”
“Whether an officer has reasonable suspicion depends on the totality of the circumstances.”
Such “circumstances include: that there is an extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants; and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English.”
“To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors.”
“If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
“Only if the person is illegally in the United States may the stop lead to further immigration proceedings.”

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