cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/49785459

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit that sought to block three federal immigration agencies from making warrantless arrests.

The suit, filed by immigration advocacy groups, claimed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement illegally arrested non-U.S. citizens in Ohio without probable cause that they were eligible to be deported and a flight risk.

But U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Chief Judge Sarah Morrison ruled Friday, July 17, that the case could not move forward because the plaintiffs did not establish that they faced an imminent risk of future unlawful arrests in Ohio.

Morrison, however, noted in her ruling that it’s clear that the federal agencies, in some instances, “unlawfully arrested and detained non-citizens in Ohio without a warrant and without a probable cause determination of their likelihood of escape.”

“Some of the accounts offered by Plaintiffs and those they wish to represent about how individual agents effectuated arrests deeply trouble the Court,” wrote Morrison, a 2018 appointee of President Donald Trump.

But the federal government asked for Morrison to dismiss the case. Under rules of the court, Morrison needed to analyze the issues the government raised. She concluded the plaintiffs – which include the ACLU of Ohio – didn’t show a certainty that future injury will occur.