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A federal judge has ruled immigration agents violated the constitutional rights of three construction workers earlier this month and ordered bond hearings.
On Jan. 15, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested nine men who fled from agents in Bethel after they attempted to initiate a traffic stop. Three of them filed petitions in Maine federal court arguing their detention without access to a hearing is unconstitutional. In a series of filings this week, U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock Jr. agreed.
The arrests came just days before U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a large-scale enforcement action centered on southern Maine cities. Border Patrol has been conducting more at-large arrests in Maine under President Donald Trump’s second administration.
The Bethel cases touch on the longstanding power immigration authorities have to make warrantless arrests that are hitting challenges in court over due process during Trump’s second term.
While two of the men were moved to Louisiana by the federal government and have since been ordered back, a third man remained in Maine. In the case of the third man, Cristian Yair De La Cruz Guillermo, Woodcock ordered federal agents to produce a warrant for his arrest.
In a court filing Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Lizotte said immigration agents already have the legal authority to arrest anyone they have suspicion may be in the country illegally and who may flee before a warrant can be obtained.
The nine men were arrested after Border Patrol agents saw them in a van bearing a Massachusetts license plate that was “known to carry illegal aliens,” according to an arrest report cited in court. When the van passed agents in marked vehicles, occupants visible to the agents became “agitated” and drove at high speed down the middle of the road.
When agents turned on emergency lights in an attempt to pull the van over, it took off, according to the report. As the van was still moving, an agent said he saw the doors open and people hurriedly push each other out and run into the woods. Eventually, all nine occupants were arrested.
Guillermo’s lawyer, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, filed a petition in federal court Jan. 22 challenging his detention and requesting he get a bond hearing. Woodcock approved the requests Jan. 28 and Guillermo posted a $100 bond the same day.