Federal Judge Blocks Unlawful Immigration Arrests in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – Late last night, a federal court judge issued a ruling in Escobar Molina et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security et al., temporarily blocking the Trump administration from continuing to carry out unlawful civil immigration arrests in Washington, D.C.

While the case proceeds, this injunction prohibits immigration agents from arresting people without a warrant or probable cause of unlawful immigration status and flight risk, as required by immigration law. Agents can arrest someone without a warrant only when they’ve established probable cause that the person is in the United States in violation of the law and that they are a flight risk.

The lawsuit, filed on September 25, was brought by four Washington, D.C. community members and the national immigration organization CASA on behalf of themselves and a class of similarly-situated individuals, alleging that the federal government has engaged in a pattern of unlawful immigration arrests since August.

Each person who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit was indiscriminately arrested without a warrant, detained, and ultimately released. The national immigration advocacy organization CASA is also a plaintiff in the case. Its members have been impacted by the illegal arrests, and the organization has had to divert resources from its core social service work to engage in crisis response for people in detention.

This ruling comes just one week after the death of CASA member Elias — a devastating reminder of the fatal consequences of this administration’s reckless and punitive immigration practices. Elias, a courageous non-plaintiff declarant in the lawsuit, was illegally arrested by ICE while on his way to receive life-saving dialysis treatment. Denied the care he needed, his health collapsed rapidly. His family says that missing that single treatment set off the decline that led to his preventable and tragic death in late November.

“We are heartbroken and outraged by the loss of Elias,” said Ama Frimpong, legal director at CASA. “What happened to him was not an accident. It was the direct result of an immigration system that treats our community as disposable. Yet even as he suffered, Elias chose to fight. By joining this lawsuit, he demanded change so that no one else would endure what he did. We owe it to him to continue that fight with unwavering resolve, to expose these abuses and to secure justice and accountability for Elias and for every person targeted by these inhumane policies.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, American Civil Liberties Union, Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, CASA, National Immigration Project, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP.

In a joint statement, plaintiffs and counsel said:

“The court’s ruling affirms that immigration agents are not above the law. Despite the Trump administration’s attempts at fear and intimidation, everyone in D.C. has rights, regardless of who they are and their immigration status; and all federal agents are required by law to respect these rights. People should not have to live in fear that they will be targeted, abducted, and dragged away every time they walk their kids to school, head to work, or go to a doctor’s appointment. As we celebrate this temporary relief, we will continue to do everything we can to protect our communities from unjust, unconstitutional, and inhumane practices.”

A link to the court’s opinion is here: https://www.acludc.org/app/uploads/2025/12/Escobar-Molina-PI-decision.pdf

A link to the court’s order is here: https://www.acludc.org/app/uploads/2025/12/2025.12.02-ECF-67-ORDER-GRANTING-IN-PART-AND-DENYING-IN-PART-plaintiffs-17-Motion-for-Preliminary-Injunction-to-Stay.pdf