Immigrants sue Trump admin over ICE agents 'unlawfully' violating internal rules, federal law and 4th Amendment by confiscating property, lawsuit says

President Donald Trump speaks successful the Cabinet Room of the White House, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, successful Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).

The Trump administration is unlawfully confiscating the idiosyncratic spot of detained immigrants and frankincense mounting them up for nonaccomplishment upon their release, a caller suit filed successful national tribunal claims.

Since January 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has "routinely failed to instrumentality important items seized from radical detained for civilian migration purposes aft releasing them," the suit alleges. Such spot includes government-issued documents similar driver's licenses, passports and employment authorization documents, arsenic good arsenic items similar money, jewelry, cellphones, car keys and clothing, according to the filing.

In a 39-page complaint, respective immigrants who person had their spot confiscated since President Donald Trump took bureau accidental ICE's behaviour successful this respect is unlawful due to the fact that it violates interior bureau rules, national statutory instrumentality and the U.S. Constitution.

"ICE has a de facto argumentation of failing to instrumentality spot seized from radical detained for civilian migration purposes, depriving radical of their spot agelong aft immoderate morganatic governmental involvement successful the spot has expired," the suit begins. "ICE has deprived radical of specified items for acold longer than immoderate conceivable governmental involvement would justify, often months aft the individuals were released from ICE custody."

While the plaintiffs bash not suggest determination is immoderate statute outright barring ICE agents from confiscating specified property, the suit argues the de facto argumentation violates the agency's existent confiscation and detention policies, the Fourth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the national statute that governs the behaviour of administrative agencies.

"The upshot is this: The De Facto Policy, whether applied to documents oregon immoderate different signifier of property, is unlawful respective times over," the suit goes on. "Plaintiffs … question the instrumentality of items that ICE unlawfully failed to instrumentality to them arsenic good arsenic safeguards to forestall ICE from continuing to unreasonably contradict radical their property."

In a post connected X (formerly Twitter) announcing the litigation, lawyer Norm Eisen termed the argumentation "a cruel catch-22."

The suit says it describes "seven radical who fell victim" to the de facto argumentation aft they were detained and released.

"At slightest 5 months person passed since each Plaintiff was released from ICE custody, and each Plaintiffs are inactive missing important property, contempt requesting its return," the filing alleges.

The plaintiffs assertion they person been negatively financially affected by the authorities holding onto the belongings successful question.

On apical of expending "significant resources to regenerate oregon regain their possessions," respective plaintiffs person mislaid their jobs owed to the deficiency of recognition oregon enactment authorization, according to the complaint.

The filing makes wide the allegations against ICE are thing new.

"Across the country, national judges person held authorities officials successful contempt, oregon threatened to bash so, owed to ICE's nonaccomplishment to instrumentality items that had been seized from radical released from ICE detention," the ailment goes on. "Journalists and migration lawyers person reported a akin practice."

In September, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, recovered galore violations of tribunal orders successful a habeas corpus lawsuit filed by an underage immigrant. In that case, she ordered the authorities to instrumentality each of the "property and documents that were removed from his idiosyncratic astatine the clip of his wrongful removal."

In the contiguous case, the plaintiffs importune ICE is violating its ain policies erstwhile it refuses to surrender lawfully seized documents.

"The De Facto Policy demonstrates however ICE has operationalized the Confiscation Directive and shows that the bureau treats it arsenic authorizing officers to take whether to instrumentality seized documents," the suit goes on. "Properly read, however, the Confiscation Directive does not authorize specified conduct. Instead, the Confiscation Directive states that ICE's enforcement officers … indispensable '[e]nsur[e] that decisions to clasp documents are based connected a intelligibly articulated operational need.'"

In different words, the plaintiffs allege the authorities nary longer has immoderate viable "need" to clasp specified spot aft an migrant is released.

This alleged deficiency of request dovetails with the APA argument. The plaintiffs allege the deficiency of request makes ICE's behaviour arbitrary and capricious, a word of creation derived from the APA's originating statute — which refers to bureau actions that spell excessively acold portion eschewing formal, mandatory processes.

But the suit besides stakes retired adjacent broader territory to reason the de facto argumentation is "unconstitutional."

"To the grade that the Confiscation Directive did so authorize ICE to clasp documents successful these scenarios, it would beryllium unlawful nether the Fourth Amendment," the plaintiffs claim.

The suit seeks people certification and an injunction.

The plaintiffs not lone anticipation to regain each of their confiscated property, but to unit ICE to instrumentality specified spot passim the state — and to halt the argumentation from being acted upon successful the future.

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