Federal Judge Destroys ICE Credibility After Officer Admits He Falsified a Warrantless Arrest Report

Some ICE warrantless arrests in Oregon violated a federal court injunction, a judge found on Monday, 2 November. US District Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai also found that an officer deliberately falsified an arrest report to make a detention appear lawful. The ruling orders wider disclosure of arrest records and body-camera footage.

The 50-page opinion enforced a preliminary injunction issued on 4 February. The injunction requires officers to establish probable cause, before making a warrantless arrest, that someone is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. It also requires records explaining that assessment.

ICE Warrantless Arrests Expose Officer's Falsified Report

On 26 July, ICE officers followed two men driving towards Emigrant Lake, near Ashland. Agents had identified the driver through a vehicle check, but not his passenger. Both were arrested.

The passenger is identified in court papers as H-D-G-H-. ICE deportation officer J.G. submitted a Form I-213 stating that agents had identified the passenger beforehand and obtained a warrant for his arrest.

At a September hearing, J.G. admitted those statements were inaccurate. He acknowledged that officers did not know the passenger was in the vehicle and had no warrant for him when they stopped the car.

The officer said he had copied much of the driver's arrest account and failed to correct the passenger's version. Kasubhai rejected the explanation. 'He lied in an official record,' the judge wrote, finding intentional falsification rather than a clerical error.

Kasubhai also rejected J.G.'s account that the passenger had been arrested under a valid warrant issued at the scene. The court found an unlawful warrantless arrest without an assessment of escape risk. It made no separate criminal finding of perjury.

ICE Warrantless Arrests Bring Tougher Disclosure Requirements

The false report was part of a wider compliance failure, according to the opinion. ICE disclosed just 13 warrantless arrests between 5 February and 5 August, but Kasubhai found the actual number was significantly higher.

ICE data cited in court recorded 574 arrests in Oregon from 5 February to 31 July. Of those, 504 took place in community settings rather than in custody. Those figures do not establish how many arrests were warrantless.

The judge identified other problems with arrest documentation, including conflicting warrant accounts and repeated language that did not establish individual escape risks. He found three arrests unlawful but upheld a separate temporary detention as justified.

Government lawyers denied violating the injunction, arguing that officials had complied with its terms. They also objected to expanded disclosure covering arrests ICE classified as warrant-based. Kasubhai rejected their position and granted the plaintiffs' enforcement request.

The court ordered disclosure to plaintiffs' lawyers of documents covering civil immigration arrests in Oregon, including purportedly warrant-based arrests. Previously disclosed documents must be supplied again without redactions. That does not require general public release.

For arrests from 1 September, ICE must provide body-worn camera footage or sworn confirmation that none exists. It must answer qualifying records requests within seven days and recirculate the injunction every 30 days, certifying compliance to the court.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pamela Bondi remain named in the case caption in their official capacities. Neither was found personally responsible for falsifying records. The injunction remained under appeal.

Kasubhai declined to give the defendants the usual presumption that officials had properly performed their duties in this litigation. 'One must earn credibility by acting with integrity,' he wrote.