Washington joins coalition supporting challenge to unlawful immigration arrests
Attorney General Nick Brown joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in support of litigation challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) policy and practice of conducting unlawful warrantless civil immigration arrests.
Under federal law, immigration officers conducting warrantless civil immigration arrests must have probable cause to believe that an individual is unlawfully present in the United States and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. However, DHS officers routinely carry out warrantless arrests without determining if the individual is an escape risk. The brief highlights the widespread harms that unlawful immigration enforcement practices have inflicted on communities across the country, including in Washington.
“The Bill of Rights protects the public from unlawful search and seizure, but the administration treats our constitutional protections as optional rather than bedrock requirements,” Brown said. “Checks and balances are essential if we want a country that is both governed and policed fairly.”
Across the country, federal immigration agents have escalated their enforcement activities, disrupting communities and undermining public health, safety, education, and local economies. Washington has seen these harms firsthand, as aggressive immigration enforcement tactics have kept students out of school, disrupted agricultural work, discouraged people from seeking medical care, blocked access to courts, prevented kids from using the library, impeded shoppers from getting groceries, undermined families’ financial stability, and weakened the relationship between immigrant communities and local law enforcement. Federal agents’ use of ski masks, dark sunglasses, plainclothes, and unmarked vehicles, and refusals to identify themselves while carrying out operations have further contributed to fear and uncertainty in affected communities.
The brief was filed in Escobar-Molina v. DHS, a case challenging DHS’s policy and practice of conducting unlawful warrantless civil immigration arrests in the District of Columbia. On December 2, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted in part a motion for a preliminary injunction.
In filing the brief, Brown joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
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