Oregon federal judge blocks ICE from making warrantless arrests, citing Fourth Amendment violations

U.S. District Judge MKMustafa Kasubhai granted a preliminary injunction on February 5, 2026, blocking ICE from making warrantless arrests in 🌲Oregon unless agents can demonstrate an individualized flight risk assessment. The ruling found ICE likely violated Fourth and Fifth Amendment protections.

The case Innovation Law Lab v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security represents a class of noncitizens detained by ICE in 🌲Oregon without warrants during area-based enforcement operations. Innovation Law Lab, a Portland-based nonprofit, filed the lawsuit after longtime Oregon residents were swept up in traffic stops and workplace raids.

VCVictor Cruz Gamez, a 56-year-old grandfather who has lived in the U.S. since 1999, was arrested during a traffic stop while driving home from work in October. Despite showing his driver's license and valid work permit, an ICE agent told him the permit "meant nothing" and detained him for three weeks at a Tacoma detention center.

Judge Kasubhai found "ample evidence" of a "pattern of practice of executing warrantless arrests without sufficient evidence." He concluded the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on their constitutional claims that ICE violated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable seizures.

The judge criticized agents for using "violent and brutal" tactics during civil immigration stops, including drawing weapons on people detained for civil violations rather than criminal offenses. He expressed concern that the administration was denying due process to people swept up in immigration raids.

Evidence presented showed ICE agents operated under quotas of eight arrests per day in 🌲Oregon and created administrative warrants after detaining people rather than before—an "arrest first, justify later" approach that contradicted the agency's own guidance requiring individualized assessments.

🌲Oregon became the third jurisdiction to block warrantless ICE arrests, joining 🏔️Colorado and 🏛️Washington, D.C., where federal judges issued similar injunctions. The government has appealed those rulings, and a similar lawsuit is pending in 🦆Minnesota.

ICE acting director Todd Lyons issued a memo one week before the ruling stating agents shouldn't make arrests without administrative warrants unless they have probable cause the person will escape. Judge Kasubhai found agents weren't following this directive in practice.

The Fourth Amendment protects everyone physically present in the United States from unreasonable searches and seizures, regardless of immigration status. Courts have held that warrantless arrests require probable cause that the person has violated immigration law and is likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained.