Throughout New Jersey and the rest of the nation, many undocumented immigrants live in fear of deportation. Unfortunately, these fears became real for a large group of undocumented immigrants after being arrested without the officer having a warrant. Now, a new measure is in place that will limit what federal immigration agents can do.
The lawsuit that led to this ruling
In 2018, a group of five undocumented immigrants filed a lawsuit after an officer detained them without a warrant. This group alleged that the immigration agents who stopped and detained the immigrants did so because they were racially profiling this group of people.
What the future looks like for immigration agents
In February, the federal government reached a settlement between several advocacy groups based out of Chicago, Illinois. As a result of this agreement, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (otherwise known as ICE) must now issue a new nationwide policy for all of its officers.
This new policy is receiving favorable reviews from many immigrant advocates. It also seems to make a legitimate criminal defense for immigrants easier than it has been for them to receive adequate representation in the past.
The terms of this new policy will restrict ICE agents from being able to detain any undocumented immigrants without a proper warrant during a traffic stop. All ICE agents will also receive new training and must issue monthly arrest reports for review to ensure no one violates the terms of this new agreement.
To wrap things up, federal immigration agents must now follow new rules restricting their power over undocumented immigrants. Advocates of these new rules hope this leads to fewer undocumented immigrants getting falsely arrested.