Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2h

The Supreme Court justified this constitutional travesty by claiming deportation is "civil," not criminal. Justice O'Connor wrote that "various protections that apply in the context of a criminal trial do not apply in a deportation hearing".

Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 3h

The Supreme Court's Lopez-Mendoza decision created a major constitutional dilemma: "The 'body' or identity of a defendant or respondent in a criminal or civil proceeding is never itself suppressible as a fruit of an unlawful arrest."

Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 3h

Even when these violations are "egregious," immigration courts can only suppress specific pieces of evidence while the deportation case proceeds based on the person's physical presence.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 4h

The September ruling permitted federal agents to resume stops based on apparent race, language, and work type.

Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 4h

Judge Cummings emphasized that ensuring probable cause for arrests is "more important than ever" following the Supreme Court's recent Vasquez Perdomo decision, which allows immigration officers to consider race and employment status when determining probable cause for immigration stops.

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Reposted by Michael D. Baker

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · 7h

A Chicago federal judge has extended a nationwide consent decree requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to better document and report probable cause for immigration arrests.

Federal judge in Chicago finds ICE repeatedly violated consent decree over ‘warrantless arrests’

A Chicago federal judge has extended a nationwide consent decree requiring ICE to better document and report probable cause for immigration arrests and found the agency repeatedly violated the 2022…

trib.al

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

Mark Fleming of the National Immigrant Justice Center described ICE’s conduct as “reckless and unlawful enforcement,” and hailed the ruling: “This decision gives us tools to hold DHS and ICE accountable,” ensuring the Constitution and law must be followed.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

Cummings extended the decree through February 2, 2026, ordered ICE to reissue national compliance notices, reimbursed bonds, and required monthly reports on warrantless arrests.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

Federal Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that ICE violated the Castañon Nava consent decree by arresting at least 22 people without a warrant in Chicago and Missouri earlier this year, following President Trump’s inauguration.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

All warrantless immigration arrests and vehicle stops by ICE within this six-state region must strictly follow the settlement’s requirements for probable cause, documentation, and review, as enforced by the federal district court in Chicago.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

The consent decree specifically covers ICE’s Chicago Area of Responsibility, which includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kentucky, and Kansas.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

However, mere presence within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law is not, by itself, sufficient to conclude that an alien is likely to escape before a warrant for arrest can be obtained.”

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

In considering likelihood of escape, an ICE Officer must consider the totality of circumstances known to the officer before making the arrest. ...

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

“The reason to believe standard requires ICE Officers to have probable cause that an individual is in the United States in violation of U.S. immigration laws and probable cause that the individual is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for the arrest.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

It requires ICE to follow the Constitution, document every warrantless arrest, train its officers, and immediately release anyone held in violation of these new standards.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 5h

A federal court settlement agreement establishes strict, court-supervised rules for how ICE can carry out warrantless immigration arrests and vehicle stops in Illinois and five surrounding Midwest states, which have been extended by the judge through 2026. acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:...

Adobe Acrobat

acrobat.adobe.com

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 14h

Federal grand jury refuses to indict Chicago ICE protesters as citizen pushback grows against Trump crackdowns news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/g...

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Two Chicago-Area ICE Protesters

A federal grand jury declined to indict two people charged with assaulting law enforcement agents outside a suburban Chicago ICE facility, an attorney for one of the defendants said.

news.bloomberglaw.com

Reposted by Michael D. Baker

Truth & Justice League @trujusticeleague.bsky.social · 1d

“Brett Kavanaugh, though, beclowned himself with a concurring opinion that laid out how he imagined friendly consensual encounters with immigration officers went on America’s streets”

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 1d

Another successful “Kavanaugh Stop,” just as the good Justice intended!

www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/welcome-to...

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

Nick Miroff reports ICE agents are burning out amid Trump’s mass deportation effort—morale is terrible, public vilification is rising, and quotas overshadow real security. Mission Impossible burnout is tearing through the ranks.

Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

“Why did you lobby Congress for months saying you needed the money if you don’t intend to spend it?” one furious DHS official asked. Inside Trump’s immigration crackdown, even loyalists now admit it’s “not going to happen.”

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

Despite a historic funding surge, ICE’s mass‑detention plan has stalled. Arrests have dropped, short‑term cells are crammed, and judges are blasting “inhumane” conditions.

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

ICE got $45 billion to supersize its jails — and still ran out of space. Trump’s deportation machine is breaking down under its own chaos. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

As Money Rushed In, ICE’s Rapid Expansion Stalled Out

Immigration arrests have declined and jail overcrowding is worse despite billions in new funds.

www.theatlantic.com

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

Hungry for power, Palmer let fear rule. He unleashed mass sweeps through American cities, rounding up “radicals” without warrants or reason. What followed was panic posing as patriotism—civil liberties swallowed by hysteria and hubris.

Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

Washington already burned with strikes, postwar flus, and Bolshevik rumors. Into that fever stepped Palmer—Quaker-born, ambitious, and newly minted Attorney General—soon to become the “Fighting Quaker.”

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Michael D. Baker @mikebakerlaw.bsky.social · 2d

A militant anarchist, Carlo Valdinoci, blew the front off Attorney General Palmer’s DC home one June night in 1919—dying in a flash of his own bomb and shaking the capital awake. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, across the street, felt the blast.

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