ICE agents can't make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there's a
risk of escape, US judge rules
[February 05, 2026]
By CLAIRE RUSH
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop
arresting people without warrants unless there's a likelihood of escape,
a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction in
a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland
Security's practice of arresting immigrants they happen to come across
while conducting ramped-up enforcement operations — which critics have
described as “arrest first, justify later.”
The department, which is named as a defendant in the suit, did not
immediately comment in response to a request from The Associated Press.
Similar actions, including immigration agents entering private property
without a warrant issued by a court, have drawn concern from civil
rights groups across the country amid President Donald Trump's mass
deportation efforts.
Courts in Colorado and Washington, D.C., have issued rulings like
Kasubhai’s, and the government has appealed them.
In a memo last week, Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, emphasized that agents should not make an arrest
without an administrative arrest warrant issued by a supervisor unless
they develop probable cause to believe that the person is in the U.S.
illegally and likely to escape from the scene before a warrant can be
obtained.
But the judge heard evidence that agents in Oregon have arrested people
in immigration sweeps without such warrants or determining escape was
likely.
The daylong hearing included testimony from one plaintiff, Victor Cruz
Gamez, a 56-year-old grandfather who has been in the U.S. since 1999. He
told the court he was arrested and held in an immigration detention
facility for three weeks even though he has a valid work permit and a
pending visa application.
Cruz Gamez testified that he was driving home from work in October when
he was pulled over by immigration agents. Despite showing his driver's
license and work permit, he was detained and taken to the ICE building
in Portland before being sent to an immigration detention center in
Tacoma, Washington. After three weeks there, he was set to be deported
until a lawyer secured his release, he said.
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Law enforcement officers look out from a United States Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Oct. 21, 2025, in Portland,
Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
He teared up as he recounted how the arrest impacted his family,
especially his wife. Once he was home they did not open the door for
three weeks out of fear and one of his grandchildren did not want to
go to school, he said through a Spanish interpreter.
Afterward a lawyer for the federal government told Cruz Gamez he was
sorry about what he went through and the effect it had on them.
Kasubhai said the actions of agents in Oregon — including drawing
guns on people while detaining them for civil immigration violations
— have been “violent and brutal,” and he was concerned about the
administration denying due process to those swept up in immigration
raids.
“Due process calls for those who have great power to exercise great
restraint,” he said. “That is the bedrock of a democratic republic
founded on this great constitution. I think we’re losing that.”
The lawsuit was brought by the nonprofit law firm Innovation Law
Lab, whose executive director, Stephen Manning, said he was
confident the case will be a “catalyst for change here in Oregon.”
“That is fundamentally what this case is about: asking the
government to follow the law,” he said during the hearing.
The preliminary injunction will remain in effect while the lawsuit
proceeds.
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Associated Press writer Gene Johnson in Seattle contributed.
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