A federal judge in Colorado ruled Tuesday that immigration officers can only arrest people without a warrant if they believe they are likely to flee.
U.S. District Senior Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado on behalf of four people who were arrested without warrants earlier this year.
The lawsuit accused immigration officers of indiscriminately arresting Latinos to meet enforcement goals without evaluating what's required to legally detain them.
Jackson said each of those who sued had longstanding ties to their communities and that no reasonable officer could have concluded they were likely to flee before getting a warrant for their arrest.
Before arresting anyone without a warrant, immigration officers must have probable cause to believe both that someone is in the country illegally and that they are likely to flee before an arrest warrant can be obtained, Jackson ruled.
Immigration officers must also document why they are arresting someone without a warrant, Jackson said.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, dismissed the judge's "activist ruling."
"Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in 'racial profiling' are disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE," she said in a statement.
McLaughlin said the government would appeal the ruling.
"The Supreme Court recently vindicated us on this question elsewhere, and we look forward to further vindication in this case as well," she said.
The ruling is similar to one made earlier this year in a case brought by another chapter of the ACLU in California involving arrests by Border Patrol agents. The government has appealed that ruling.
Another judge had also issued a restraining order barring federal agents from stopping people based solely on their race, language, job, or location in the Los Angeles area after finding that they were conducting indiscriminate stops.
The Supreme Court lifted that order in September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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