Federal judge strips ICE of presumption of honesty

Tuesday, November 03, 2026

A federal judge in Oregon says he can no longer assume ICE agents are telling the truth in their arrest paperwork, declaring Monday that live testimony is now "necessary" after finding that warrantless arrests are still being made and facts are being "fabricated in official records" by immigration officers

Posted by qcp at 11:16 PM | 3 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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More: In a 50-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled that ICE repeatedly violated an existing court order governing warrantless immigration arrests in the Beaver State, with inaccurate reports, missing records and accounts that did not match what actually happened.

The judge's loss of confidence in the agency was so pronounced that he withdrew the usual presumption that government officials have properly performed their duties.

"This presumption no longer holds for defendants," Kasubhai wrote. "Defendants are held to the same expectation as any other litigant before this court. One must earn credibility by acting with integrity."

The ruling means ICE must now provide plaintiffs challenging its arrest practices with a much broader collection of records, including administrative arrest warrants, supporting evidence, documents given to detainees and body-camera footage from civil immigration arrests conducted since Sept. 1. The agency must also turn over previously disclosed material without redactions and repeat the court's instructions to relevant employees every 30 days.

#1 | Posted by qcp at 2026-11-03 11:18 PM | Reply

@#1 ... In a 50-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai ruled that ICE repeatedly violated an existing court order governing warrantless immigration arrests in the Beaver State, with inaccurate reports, missing records and accounts that did not match what actually happened.

The judge's loss of confidence in the agency was so pronounced that he withdrew the usual presumption that government officials have properly performed their duties. ...

Why might anyone actually be surprised at this opinion?

#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-11-03 11:22 PM | Reply

More from the cited article ...

... According to Kasubhai, an ICE officer "fabricated facts in official records to justify an arrest."

The judge, appointed by President Joe Biden, said the court knows this because at an evidentiary hearing on a motion to enforce a preliminary injunction barring warrantless arrests, the ICE officer "testified under oath" that what he wrote in the official records of the arrest "was incorrect."

On the witness stand, the officer tried to minimize the error "as mere oversight," according to Kasubhai.

"This court found he lied after evaluating his live testimony and the documentary evidence," the judge said in Monday's order. "Evaluating live testimony is a time-tested method for truth finding. Written declarations are convenient, but insufficient on their own when witnesses are willing to lie." ...

[emphasis mine]

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-11-03 11:25 PM | Reply