When
a
Trump-appointed
federal
judge
is
telling
Immigration
and
Customs
Enforcement
that
it
cannot
simply
toss
the
Constitution
in
the
shredder
because
compliance
is
“inconvenient,”
you
know
things
have
gone
seriously
off
the
rails.
U.S.
District
Judge
Nancy
Brasel
issued
a
blistering
decision
finding
that
ICE
is
violating
the
constitutional
rights
of
immigration
detainees
held
in
Minnesota’s
Whipple
Federal
Building
and
issued
a
temporary
restraining
order
telling
the
government
to
knock
it
off.
Immediately.
“The
Constitution
does
not
permit
the
government
to
arrest
thousands
of
individuals
and
then
disregard
their
constitutional
rights
because
it
would
be
too
challenging
to
honor
those
rights,”
Brasel
wrote
in
what
should
be
an
uncontroversial
statement
of
black-letter
law
but,
well,
2026
makes
fools
of
us
all.
The
plaintiffs,
noncitizen
detainees
and
a
nonprofit
that
represents
noncitizens,
didn’t
come
to
court
with
vibes
or
hypotheticals.
They
came
armed
with
detailed,
specific,
and
damning
evidence.
ICE,
meanwhile,
showed
up
with
what
Brasel
described
as
“threadbare
declarations,”
vaguely
insisting
that
everything
is
totally
fine
despite
the
hard
evidence
presented
by
plainitffs.
“The
gulf
between
the
parties’
evidence
is
simply
too
wide
and
too
deep
for
Defendants
to
overcome,”
Brasel
wrote.
Yikes.
As
described
in
the
order
(available
in
full
below),
what
ICE
has
implemented
at
the
Whipple
Building
reads
like
a
system
designed
specifically
to
be
hostile
to
constitutional
rights.
Detainees
are
processed
and
transferred
almost
immediately
and
without
notice,
making
it
virtually
impossible
for
attorneys
to
know
where
their
clients
are,
or
how
long
they’ll
remain
at
any
given
facility.
If
that
sounds
like
a
nightmare
for
due
process,
welp,
that
seems
like
a
feature,
not
a
bug
of
the
system.
But
it
gets
worse.
Phone
lists
provided
to
detainees
frequently
lack
information
identifying
which
organizations
actually
provide
legal
services.
The
phones
themselves
are
located
in
open
areas,
where
conversations
can
be
overheard
by
ICE
agents…
because
nothing
says
“right
to
counsel”
like
having
the
government
listen
in.
Attorneys
have
at
times
been
physically
barred
from
entering
the
building
altogether,
with
the
government
hand-waving
about
the
“chaos”
that
would
supposedly
ensue
if
lawyers
were
allowed
access
to
their
own
clients.
Plus
the
detainees
are
prohibited
from
sending
mail
or
email,
cutting
off
yet
another
potential
avenue
of
communication.
Judge
Brasel’s
TRO
mandates
that
detainees
be
given
access
to
in-person
visits
with
their
lawyers
seven
days
a
week,
along
with
free,
private,
and
unmonitored
telephone
calls
to
counsel
and
family
members
within
one
hour
of
detention,
and
before
any
out-of-state
transfer.
None
of
this
is
radical,
it’s
pretty
basic
constitutional
law.
But
the
fact
that
a
Trump
appointee
of
all
judges
had
to
spell
this
out
so
plainly
underscores
just
how
normalized
constitutional
shortcuts
have
become
in
immigration
enforcement.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
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her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].