The petitioner was arrested during an ICE raid that was perceived to be conducted as retaliation for the city of New Haven, CT issuing IDs to undocumented immigrants. The Immigration Judge relied on the following three conclusions to find that there was no egregious Fourth Amendment violation during the arrest: 1) he arrived at the site of an ongoing law enforcement operation driving a vehicle owned by another individual, (2) he did not have identification on him, and (3) he was unable to speak English. The Second Circuit disagreed, noting that “Rodriguez arrived at 546 Woodward Avenue to provide documentation from the vehicle so that his boss could respond to law enforcement inquiries. He also gave a reasonable explanation as to his lack of identification: He had rushed out of bed and into the car in order to help his boss as quickly as possible. Lastly, while Rodriguez is not proficient in English, this ‘same characteristic applies to a sizable portion of individuals lawfully present in this country.’”
The full text of Rodriguez v. Barr can be found here: