Immigrant rights advocates say at least one person living in Louisiana was arrested this month after being summoned to meet with an ICE officer under false pretenses, raising concerns about the alleged use of "ruse" tactics by the agency.
The account of the methods — long a subject of interest for immigrant advocacy groups — comes as anxieties rise amid reports of stepped-up immigration enforcement around the country, including the Gulf South.
ACLU of Louisiana's legal director, Nora Ahmed, said their office has confirmed a case in which someone being monitored by ICE's intensive supervision program received a text message asking them to provide documents and meet in early February to transfer to a lower level of supervision.
She said the person was asked to arrive at that meeting early, so they wouldn’t have to wait while a group was processed, and then was arrested on arrival.
"It appears as though ICE lured this individual into custody pursuant to something in law we call a 'ruse,'" or a deception to facilitate arrest, Ahmed said.
She said case law shows ruses potentially violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees rights pertaining to search and seizure by the government, including the seizure of one's person.
Ahmed could not share information about the immigrant's identity or whether they were currently detained. But she said the case shows problems, including that as far as the ACLU's staff is aware, the person was not notified their status under an ICE monitoring program was being revoked.
That triggers a formal process that gives the person the opportunity to respond to the revocation, she explained.
ICE public affairs officers did not return requests for comment on the case or current "ruse" policies. Past Department of Homeland Security memos and policy manuals published online by advocacy groups, however, acknowledge "ruse" tactics, with restrictions.
Ruses are "designed to control the time and location of a law enforcement encounter," according to one past Department of Homeland Security handbook. "The result is improved safety for officers and the public by reducing the opportunity for the target to flee."
Immigration advocacy groups, legal scholars and lawsuits have tried to track and flag "ruse" scenarios they say are used by enforcement agents. In their telling, those can include concocting premises to convince people to interact with ICE officers, such as investigating crimes that didn't happen.
Genia Blaser, director of Hotline at Immigrant Defense Project, said in a statement that ICE agents sometimes use ruses to help them locate someone or gain entry to a home when they do not have permission or a warrant signed by a judge or magistrate.
She said ICE uses ruse methods "to deceive and prevent people from knowing that they can invoke their rights," such as the right not to admit officers to a home, or the right to remain silent.
Immigration agents also identify themselves as "police" without specifically mentioning that they are investigating immigration issues, advocates say.
"(M)any times the witnesses of raids that involved ruses do not know at the time that it was, in fact, ICE that arrested their loved one and not the local police," Blaser said.
Ahmed said people often develop relationships with the ICE officer overseeing their supervision case. She said issues arise when immigrants believe they are going to a check-in and "doing the right thing," only to be "sandbagged."
"You don't believe that the system's going to turn on you," she said.
Last month, NBC news reported a Venezuelan immigrant in South Florida was detained under seemingly similar circumstances to the Louisiana case.
As President Donald Trump's administration intensifies its focus on migrants, the ACLU and many advocacy organizations have recently stressed the importance of immigrants knowing their Constitutional rights, as well as preparing for worst-case scenarios.
That includes people without documents making a plan for who will take care of their children should they be detained, so children won't be placed into the foster care system, and filing motions to reopen asylum cases where relevant.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
