Class Action Claims Sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia Unlawfully Detains Immigrants

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The sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia has been named in a proposed class action lawsuit in which the plaintiff accuses the man of detaining immigrants past the date on which they were scheduled to be released without any legal justification. The lawsuit claims the unlawful detainments stem from requests the sheriff received from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE)—DHS Form I-247A, or an “ICE detainer,” and DHS Form I-200, entitled “Warrant for Arrest of Alien.”

These detainer forms are not signed by a neutral judge or magistrate, the case points out, and are merely requests for local law enforcement to hold an immigrant in custody until ICE agents can retrieve him or her for immigration enforcement purposes.

Per the plaintiff, the suit says the man was charged with two state misdemeanors for which his bail was set at $1,000. The same day he was arrested, according to the suit, the plaintiff's friend attempted to pay his bail but was instructed by the court magistrate—who the case says was advised by the defendant—that the plaintiff would not be released even if his bail was paid. The man was then kept in custody for three months past the date on which he could have been released on bail, the suit states. Even when a judge ordered the man’s immediate release at his trial, the defendant allegedly kept him in jail for an additional two days until ICE took him into custody on November 9, 2017.

The case argues that ICE's detainer forms “do not provide sufficient legal basis to hold an inmate who would otherwise be released,” as they are not signed by a judge or magistrate who has issued a judicial warrant based on probable cause. The defendant, the suit charges, does not have the authority to enforce federal civil immigration law and therefore violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights by holding him in custody without legal justification.