Federal officials say they’re reviewing the arrest of a man by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Oregon this week.
The arrest, captured on video and posted to social media, shows four ICE agents detaining Carlos Bolanos inside a home reportedly near Beaverton.
George Cardenas, the man who posted the video on social media, contends the ICE agents entered private property without a warrant to make the arrest.
“We don’t need a warrant to come in this home, no one lives here,” one man can be heard saying in the video.
“So if you guys don’t have a warrant, you’re kind of breaking the law,” Cardenas replies. “You are breaking the law basically at this point.”
Cardenas and Bolanos were working on a home improvement project at the house, Cardenas says in the video.
After several minutes of back and forth between the men and the agents, several federal officers move in to handcuff Bolanos inside the home.
In a statement released Thursday night, ICE said it has released Bolanos from custody. In a social media post, Cardenas said that ICE agents told Bolanos his detainment was “a mistake.”
“The alien at issue has been released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody pending further investigation regarding the circumstances of his arrest,” ICE officials said in a statement.
The agency said it is “reviewing the incident” and has referred it for review by its Office of Professional Responsibility and the Homeland Security Department’s Office of the Inspector General.
In a letter to the deputy field office director in Portland sent Friday, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley requested a copy of the results of the reviews from both offices.
“Americans do not lose their constitutional protection from warrantless search and seizure simply because ICE believes they may be immigrants,” the senators wrote.
“The actions of the ICE agents involved in Mr. Bolanos’ arrests are counter to the very policies and practices the Department of Homeland Security claims to uphold. The behavior of these agents in recent events, taken together, suggest that ICE’s claim that these are ‘targeted enforcement actions’ is demonstrably untrue.”
The senators requested a “clear explanation” of the policies and practices leading up to the arrest and for any corrective measures initiated by ICE to address potentially unlawful behavior by the agents involved.
Oregon Congressional Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici have also repeatedly pressed ICE for answers related to the agency's procedures and policies in the state.
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