3 Kansas Counties Limit ICE Detainee Holds

Three Kansas counties say they’ll stop automatically honoring requests from federal immigration officials to detain people without a warrant or probable cause.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas says sheriff’s departments in Shawnee, Johnson and Finney counties say they’ll require probable cause or a warrant to hold ICE detainees beyond their release date.

The move comes after recent court decisions in Oregon and Pennsylvania found that such ICE detainer requests are not commands that local jurisdictions have to honor. The courts found sheriffs could be liable for constitutional violations for holding people past the time when they would otherwise be released.

The ACLU says it recently sent letters to county sheriffs across Kansas explaining the constitutional risks associated with honoring the warrantless detention requests.

Associated Press information from: The Topeka Capital-Journal