The leftist judge who just ruled that Border Patrol cannot arrest individuals who are suspected illegal aliens without a warrant is blatantly trampling the law, which explicitly gives Border Patrol the power of warrantless arrests.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston reportedly pronounced that in her California federal district, Border Patrol cannot perform warrantless arrests, cannot stop illegals without “reasonable suspicion" and cannot count some illegal alien deportations as voluntary departures unless the illegals are read their rights (even though illegals don’t have any rights under the Constitution). But U.S. law specifically gives immigration authorities the power to arrest illegal aliens without any warrant and to interrogate anyone believed to be illegally present in the country. Hopefully, the Trump administration will not comply with this illegal, illicit, and outrageous decision.
To quote from 8 U.S.C. § 1357, which lays out “powers without warrant” for immigration authorities, we find the following very clearly granted powers:
...to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States;
[] to arrest any alien who in his presence or view is entering or attempting to enter the United States in violation of any law or regulation made in pursuance of law regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, or to arrest any alien in the United States, if he has reason to believe that the alien so arrested is in the United States in violation of any such law or regulation and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest…
Furthermore, Border Patrol has the power without a warrant to “make arrests for felonies which have been committed and which are cognizable under any law of the United States regulating the admission, exclusion, expulsion, or removal of aliens, if he has reason to believe that the person so arrested is guilty of such felony and if there is likelihood of the person escaping.”
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Libs of TikTok reported that Thurston was appointed by Joe “Open Borders” Biden himself. Sen. Mike Lee responded, “Most arrests don’t require a warrant [and] Border Patrol is no exception to that.” He cited the above federal law, too.
“Officers routinely arrest—without an arrest warrant—when they acquire probable cause to believe a crime has been committed,” the senator stated. “I cannot fathom the justification for a judicial order prohibiting the Border Patrol from arresting illegal aliens without a warrant.”
BREAKING: Jennifer Thurston, a U.S. District Judge, has issued an order BANNING Border Patrol from arresting suspected illegal aliens unless they have a warrant.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 30, 2025
Another activist judge who wants to protect criminal illegals. Unreal pic.twitter.com/37RnbMSFfz
The Trump administration’s effort to return illegal aliens to their home countries, whether the illegals were arrested with or without a warrant, is fully in line with the law. The same cannot be said of activist Judge Thurston’s anti-American and harmful ruling.
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