ICE agents can't make warrantless arrests in Oregon unless there's a risk of escape, judge rules

Source: CBS News/AP

Updated on: February 4, 2026 / 10:38 PM EST


Federal 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."

Similar actions have drawn concern from civil rights groups across the country amid President Trump's mass deportation efforts. The nonprofit law firm Innovation Law Lab brought the lawsuit.

With Wednesday's ruling, Oregon now joins Colorado and Washington, D.C., as jurisdictions where the Trump administration is barred from conducting warrantless arrests without first verifying that the arrestee is a flight risk. There is also a pending lawsuit over warrantless arrests in Minnesota. The government is appealing the rulings in Colorado and D.C.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-agents-cant-make-warrantless-arrests-in-oregon-unless-theres-a-risk-of-escape-us-judge-rules/