Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown Joins Coalition Defending Limits on ICE Arrests

State of MD - Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general asking a federal appeals court to keep limits on ICE arrests in place. The group filed a legal brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The case is called Ramirez Ovando v. Mullin.

This type of filing is known as an amicus brief. It lets outside parties share legal arguments with the court, even though they are not part of the actual case.

The coalition wants the court to uphold a lower court order that requires ICE officers to follow legal safeguards before making warrantless arrests. Federal law only allows officers to arrest someone without a warrant if there is probable cause the person is in the country illegally.

Officers must also believe the person is likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained.

"Congress established specific legal requirements that ICE must meet before making a warrantless arrest, and those requirements are not optional," said Attorney General Brown. "That is why my Office joined this coalition urging the appeals court to uphold the rule of law and keep those safeguards firmly in place."

A federal district court in Colorado issued the injunction after finding that ICE officers made unlawful warrantless arrests. The court found officers did not check whether people were likely to flee before making an arrest.

The court later found ICE kept making arrests that violated the injunction, which led federal officials to appeal to the Tenth Circuit.

The brief argues the flight risk rule matters because it stops agents from arresting someone without looking at that person's individual case. The coalition says skipping this step can lead to lower school attendance and harm to local businesses. It also says the practice can cause people to avoid medical care and lower trust in law enforcement, making victims and witnesses less willing to report crimes.

The states say the injunction does not stop ICE from doing its job. Instead, they say it keeps officers working within the limits Congress set.

They also say it protects the public from harm caused when agents act outside their legal authority.

Brown is joined in the brief by attorneys general from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawai?i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

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