A federal judge has approved of a settlement between the ACLU of Indiana and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office to end Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold requests on people accused of living in the country illegally unless there is a warrant.
The action comes despite the U.S. Justice Department’s intervention in the case and requests that the Sheriff’s Office comply with the ICE seizure requests.
In a 36-page order handed down Tuesday evening, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker issued an injunction that prevents the Sheriff’s Office from detaining any person based solely on detention requests from ICE unless there is a warrant or probable cause.
An ICE detainer is a request of local police to hold people in jail beyond the time when they otherwise should be released, generally a 48-hour period. ICE is seeking more time to check their citizenship status and, if needed, get a deportation warrant, even if the initial arrest is for something minor, say a traffic infraction.
