Civil Rights and Due Process

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai has issued a preliminary injunction barring immigration agents in Oregon from making civil arrests without a warrant unless they can show the person is likely to escape before a supervisor‑approved administrative warrant can be obtained. The order, in a proposed class‑action suit brought by Innovation Law Lab against the Department of Homeland Security, targets what critics have called "arrest first, justify later" sweeps in which ICE picks up people it happens to encounter during mass enforcement operations. At a daylong hearing, plaintiff Victor Cruz Gamez—a 56‑year‑old grandfather in the U.S. since 1999 with a valid work permit and pending visa—testified he was pulled over, detained for three weeks and nearly deported despite showing ID and authorization to work, prompting a government lawyer to apologize in court. Kasubhai, citing evidence of gun‑drawn detentions for civil violations, called ICE’s actions in Oregon "violent and brutal" and warned that due‑process norms are being eroded under President Trump’s mass deportation push, even as ICE’s own recent memo from acting director Todd Lyons nominally tells agents to limit warrantless arrests to true flight‑risk situations. The injunction, which aligns with similar rulings in Colorado and Washington, D.C. that DOJ is appealing, will remain in effect while the Oregon case proceeds and adds to mounting judicial pressure on how ICE conducts street‑level enforcement nationwide.