Keypoints:
- Judge rules ICE violated Fourth Amendment protections
- Liberian man arrested in warrantless Minneapolis home raid
- Decision raises scrutiny of ICE enforcement tactics
A FEDERAL judge in the United States has ordered the release of a Liberian man just days after heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers broke into his Minnesota home, ruling that the arrest violated constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure.
In a sharply worded decision issued on Thursday, US District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said ICE agents breached the Fourth Amendment when they forced entry into the home of Garrison Gibson without consent or a judicial warrant.
‘To arrest him, Respondents forcibly entered Garrison G.’s home without his consent and without a judicial warrant,’ Bryan wrote, concluding that the operation amounted to an unlawful seizure.
Warrantless raid challenged in court
Gibson, 37, was arrested after agents used a battering ram to enter his Minneapolis home while his wife and the couple’s nine-year-old child were inside. He was released four days later following a successful habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of his detention.
His lawyer, Marc Prokosch, said the ruling confirmed what the defence had argued from the outset.
‘This was a blatant constitutional violation,’ Prokosch said, adding that Gibson’s wife was deeply shaken by the raid and its impact on their child.
The arrest came amid an intensified immigration enforcement push in Minnesota by the Department of Homeland Security, which has described the operation as its largest in the state. DHS says more than 2,500 people have been arrested nationwide since November 29.
Immigration status and procedural failures
Court records show Gibson fled Liberia as a child during the country’s civil war and had been living in the United States under an order of supervision. Although he had previously been ordered removed, that order stemmed from a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts.
Under the supervision arrangement, Gibson was permitted to remain in the country legally as long as he complied with reporting requirements. Judge Bryan noted that Gibson had consistently met those obligations, including checking in with immigration authorities just days before his arrest.
In his ruling, Bryan said immigration officials failed to follow their own regulations by revoking Gibson’s supervision order without adequate notice or explanation. He also found that authorities did not provide Gibson with a prompt post-detention interview, further undermining the legality of the arrest.
Following the raid, Gibson was transferred between facilities, including a temporary holding site at Fort Bliss in Texas, before being detained at an immigration centre in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Government response and wider tensions
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press, which first reported the case, and has not answered follow-up questions about Gibson’s detention.
However, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin previously claimed Gibson had ‘a lengthy rap sheet’ involving offences such as robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, and weapons-related charges, without clarifying whether those references were to arrests, charges, or convictions.
The case has added to mounting tensions in the Twin Cities — the Minneapolis–St Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota — now a focal point of President Donald Trump’s renewed immigration enforcement campaign. Public anger has already been high following the fatal shooting of Renee Good during a confrontation with federal agents earlier this month.
Earlier this week, another incident saw an immigration officer shoot and wound a man who allegedly attacked officers with a shovel and broom handle.
Judge Bryan’s decision is expected to intensify scrutiny of ICE’s use of militarised home raids, particularly those carried out without judicial warrants, as civil liberties advocates warn that such tactics risk eroding constitutional safeguards.
