Judge Halts Deportations over ICE Misconduct

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A federal judge in New Haven, CT, threw out deportation orders on Monday for four men arrested by immigration agents who demonstrated unacceptable behavior during a 2007 raid. Judge Michael W. Straus ruled that officers with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “egregiously violated” the immigrants’ constitutional rights by bulling into their home “without a warrant, without probable cause and without consent,” as required under the 4th and 5th amendments. Straus refused to consider any evidence gathered at the men’s house because it was illegally obtained, and the judge was irked that ICE didn’t make the arresting officers available so the accused could cross-examine them.

 
The raid was just one of several carried out by ICE in June 2007 immediately following New Haven’s approval of a landmark city I.D. plan aimed at helping undocumented workers open bank accounts. The law drew national attention, and the scorn of federal immigration officials, according to locals who felt the timing of the raids was not a coincidence.
 
The four men were among 30 who were arrested. In all of the cases, ICE refused to send the arresting ICE agents to court to be cross-examined by defense attorneys.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
Judge Halts Deportation of 4, Cites ICE Conduct (by Mary E. O’Leary, New Haven Register)
Immigrants: ICE Illegally Entered Our Homes (by Thomas MacMillan, New Haven Independent)
Feds Sweep Fair Haven (by Paul Bass, New Haven Independent)

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