(CN) - Federal border control agents have failed to comply with an injunction requiring them to properly document when they detain people, leading a judge on Wednesday to order their compliance.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ordered in April 2025 that agents stop detaining people without reasonable suspicion that they violated an immigration law, and barred them from warrantless arrests without finding probable cause of a flight risk.
However, in July 2025, agents conducted an enforcement action at a Sacramento, California, Home Depot. Agents used 11 essentially identical forms to support the detentions and arrests, the judge wrote.
That led the United Farm Workers, who had sued over the issue, to request the judge order the Department of Homeland Security to comply with her April 2025 preliminary injunction.
In an order unsealed Wednesday, focusing on the documentation requirements of her injunction, the Joe Biden appointee wrote, "Even accepting as true defendants' assertions that all those stopped and arrested engaged in unprovoked flight from agents, such flight - standing alone - is insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion."
"The narratives in the [forms] fail to bridge this gap," she added.
The judge ordered agents to write a narrative report when stopping someone, including facts supporting that reasonable suspicion existed. They must sign and date the reports, attesting they're true and correct.
The underlying suit, and Thurston's order, stem from push back against "Operation Return to Sender," targeting California's Central Valley and immigrants suspected of being in the country without authorization.
United Farm Workers had accused agents of detaining people without warrants and any meaningful investigation. The judge's April 2025 order imposed training and documentation requirements on the agents.
Then, in July 2025, agents targeted the Sacramento Home Depot, where they saw some 20 day laborers. They arrested 12 people, including one U.S. citizen, on accusations they damaged government property. Agents said the I-213 forms reflected all immigration-related stops, Thurston wrote.
The plaintiffs argued agents targeted Latinos because of their apparent ethnicity and occupation, and because they were near a Home Depot. They called the arrests illegal, as the agents lacked probable cause.
"Plaintiffs insist that Border Patrol's inaccurate and boilerplate descriptions used in the I-213 forms fail to adequately document the articulable facts pertaining to Sacramento stops and arrests, with some documentation missing altogether," Thurston wrote.
The focus of the motion to enforce the preliminary injunction, she added, was its accusation that agents stopped people without reasonable suspicion. The judge noted an attorney for the government had argued the agents lacked reasonable suspicion when they entered the parking lot that day.
And while fleeing a scene is a factor to consider, it's only one factor, Thurston wrote.
The I-213 forms provided by agents had broad conclusions, like noncitizens regularly gather at certain businesses. However, Thurston wrote she had no information that enabled her to determine whether those were reasonable inferences or speculative impressions.
"Though it is not irrational to conclude those congregating in the location were seeking day labor jobs or that such work may attract those who are undocumented, this nonetheless fails to address what proportion of those seeking day labor work in this location are (or were likely to be) noncitizens," the judge added.
The workers' union has said agents failed to ask those they detained about their community ties. Also, the I-213 forms used boilerplate language, indicating individual assessments about flight risk never happened.
Considering these factors, Thurston opted to clarify the documentation portion of her preliminary injunction.
Attorneys for United Farm Workers and representatives of Homeland Security couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Source: Courthouse News Service
