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jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Jared
@jaredmcclain.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1K following 740 posts
Civil Rights Lawyer

“Crusading against government officials and the immunity doctrines that protect them." -St. Tammany Parrish Sheriff's Office

Contractually obligated to say that my opinions are my own
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Reposted by Jared
davidjbier.bsky.social
“Despite being the highest-profile supposedly “worst of the worst” deportees during the Trump administration, none of the CECOT deportees appear in the DHS “worst” arrests database” www.cato.org/blog/dhs-doe...
December 23, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Jared
elmcitytree.blacksky.app
This is infuriating. Thanks to Adam for a wonderfully comprehensive account of how the Roberts court is attacking the Civil War amendments to the constitution 1/
In Memphis, Reggie Williams told ProPublica that he was instructed by federal agents to keep his ID on him going forward, as though Black residents of the city were emancipated slaves forced to carry freedom papers lest they be kidnapped and returned to bondage. Bovino said basically the same thing after federal agents assaulted a Somali American citizen and refused to free him for hours despite his offers to show them a photo of his passport on his phone: "One must carry immigration documents," Bovino posted on X. In Chicago, Maria Greeley was zip-tied by federal agents coming off a double shift at the bar where she worked. She had her passport and showed it to them, and still they detained her because, she said, she did not "look like" a Greeley.
December 22, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Jared
denisedwheeler.bsky.social
ICE argued in court that US citizens can be detained, handcuffed, and biometrically screened unless they can prove citizenship on the spot.

A real ID isn't enough.

Trump's "papers-please" America, where freedom is conditional and innocence comes last.
jaredmcclain.bsky.social Jared @jaredmcclain.bsky.social · 7d
We filed our reply and cited this paragraph from their dec at least a half dozen times.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
December 22, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Jared
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
ICE is arguing that construction sites are like “open fields” that don’t require search warrants because they’re freely “accessible to the public and the police.”

Here are two sites that they went into without a warrant.

Do these homes look like open fields?
Nearly finished house in Fair Hope, Alabama, that officers entered without a warrant on June 12 to arrest Leonardo Garcia Venegas Home in Chicago getting some renovations done that ICE entered without a warrant
December 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
ICE is arguing that construction sites are like “open fields” that don’t require search warrants because they’re freely “accessible to the public and the police.”

Here are two sites that they went into without a warrant.

Do these homes look like open fields?
Nearly finished house in Fair Hope, Alabama, that officers entered without a warrant on June 12 to arrest Leonardo Garcia Venegas Home in Chicago getting some renovations done that ICE entered without a warrant
December 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Reposted by Jared
11thhourmsnow.bsky.social
"They can just walk into anyone's house."

@jaredmcclain.bsky.social on ICE agents reportedly entering construction sites without a warrant.
December 19, 2025 at 6:27 AM
Reposted by Jared
adamkeiper.com
Federal agents breaking into worksites, chasing skilled laborers and bloodying them, trapping roofers outside in subzero temperatures—and yet the construction industry isn't making a peep. Our @crampell.bsky.social explains why:

www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-w...
Trump Is Walloping Construction Businesses. The Industry Stays Quiet.
Raids on work sites. Roofers under siege. But builders keep mum.
www.thebulwark.com
December 19, 2025 at 4:23 AM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Watch me talking ICE raids with @crampell.bsky.social at 11:40
11thhourmsnow.bsky.social 11thhourmsnow.bsky.social @11thhourmsnow.bsky.social · 7d
TONIGHT: Breaking news on Brown University shooting suspect found dead in New Hampshire – Trump returns to the campaign trail to test new affordability message as the DOJ faces Epstein files deadline tomorrow – & ICE ramps up immigration crackdowns at construction sites.
December 19, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Reposted by Jared
thebulwark.com
NEW: Trump’s raids are wrecking construction crews, worsening labor shortages, and threatening homeowners’ rights. So why won’t the industry that’s getting crushed say anything?

@crampell.bsky.social takes a look in the latest edition of Receipts.
December 19, 2025 at 1:59 AM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
We filed our reply and cited this paragraph from their dec at least a half dozen times.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
In response to this motion, Defendants argue that they don’t need warrants for construction sites because they’re “open fields.” They also admit that officers went to Leo’s site with no idea who they’d find, let alone particularized suspicion. And they admit that they kept Leo in handcuffs after seeing his REAL ID because, they say, states can issue REAL IDs to illegal aliens. But that’s simply false. And the Secretary of Homeland Security, a Defendant here, should know better since her agency administers the REAL ID program. Unable to refute the policies’ existence, Defendants feebly question Leo’s standing and warn that an injunction would imperil immigration enforcement. They suggest that requiring immigration officers to get warrants to search private worksites and to detain only those people for whom they have particularized suspicion—two basic tenets of the Fourth Amendment—would “curtail[] every on-the-ground immigration search and detention” and “chill routine field operations.” Defs.’ Br. Opp. PI (ECF No. 46) 2–3, 28 (“PIOpp.”). But Leo does not question the federal government’s broad authority over immigration, just three lawless policies. That those policies have become so “routine” is exactly why an injunction is necessary. American citizens like Leo must be free to work without living in constant fear that they’ll be wrongfully detained based on how they look. week, after Escobar Molina enjoined DHS from reducing the evidentiary threshold for immigration arrests, DHS reiterated, in a comment about Leo’s lawsuit, that arrests require mere reasonable suspicion. Ex. A (McClain Decl.) ¶ 4. Add that to the fact that the Chief Border Patrol Agent has emphasized that they consider how people “look” to be reasonable suspicion, Windham Decl. ¶ 18, and there’s ample reason to doubt that HSI follows the law by developing particularized suspicion. The top officials in these different subagencies are taking their orders directly from Secretary Noem, McClain Decl. ¶ 3, and the Administration’s policy statements to the press and on social media are disseminated to “a broad audience, which includes law enforcement officers under DHS’s command.” Escobar Molina, 2025 WL 3465518, at *24. And besides, the little that ASAC Lavoie does tell us about HSI’s January training runs counter to federal law and DHS’s own regulations. He says REAL IDs are unreliable evidence of lawful status because some states issue them to illegal aliens. Lavoie Decl. ¶ 16. But a quick skim of the REAL ID Act and its implementing regulations would have alerted ASAC Lavoie that his agency has the law wrong. Infra III.C. Nevertheless, Defendants ask this Court to ignore almost all evidence besides ASAC Lavoie’s unreliable claim about HSI’s training. They ask the Court to disregard all media reports. PI Opp. 15–16 n.5. And they call the experiences of non-citizens irrelevant. See id. at 16. Same for people who live outside the District, id., as if Defendants—who direct raids across the Southeast and take orders from D.C.—created special rules for Southern Alabama. Contra McClain Decl. ¶ 10 (Defendant Schrank discussing raids in Northern Alabama). And it’s no wonder. Only by ignoring Leo’s corroborating evidence can
December 18, 2025 at 11:00 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
I would simply die.

www.centralmaine.com/2025/12/15/m...
The lawyers who called Scott Greaney this fall seemed to him to make a good point. The women, the 61-year-old turkey farmer from Mercer said, told him that two seats on a state committee overseeing funds meant to support Maine farmers, loggers and others were reserved by statute for people representing “historically underserved racial populations.” “At face value,” Greaney said in an interview via telephone Monday, “the whole thing about reserving two seats for specific types of people — that ain’t right.” So he agreed to help the lawyers, who wanted to challenge whether that was constitutional. But what Greaney did not realize was that he was signing on to be the sole plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed Friday against two state officials — and that the national, libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation would issue a Friday evening press release that Greaney says was misleading. “I have no use for liars and no use for thieves,” Greaney said. “I don’t know what this is all about. I was planning on calling (the lawyers) today and saying, ‘What the hell is this?’ I’m trying to run a business in the state of Maine, and it has me looking like a punk.”
December 18, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Reposted by Jared
cjciaramella.bsky.social
You should read this story about deaths due to poor dialysis treatment at a federal women's medical prison. Medical neglect in prison is widespread and unimaginably barbaric. (I had to file a FOIA lawsuit for the mortality reports mentioned here too) www.themarshallproject.org/2025/12/16/w...
December 18, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Jared
jerryedwards.bsky.social
I don't know, Aaron. I think we need to take this seriously. In fact, after surveying hundreds of years of history in the past few days, I've written an article assessing the originalist case here:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 16, 2025 at 3:58 AM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
There’s also been dozens of construction raids in Alabama where there isn’t the community support to document them.

But two ICE officials said they’re targeting construction sites there.

And DOJ just said in our case that construction sites are “open fields” that don’t require warrants to enter.
crampell.bsky.social Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 12d
This is at least the third incident I'm aware of where immigration agents attacked workers on a private residential construction site. Here is one I covered in October, in Chicago. bsky.app/profile/cram...
crampell.bsky.social Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · Oct 26
In a wealthy neighborhood in Chicago, immigration agents hopped the fence of a US citizen’s home and tried to pull a construction worker out a 2nd-story window. Homeowner came home to blood all over his house. www.msnbc.com/the-weekend-...
December 14, 2025 at 6:54 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
People trying to think of ways someone’s status might’ve changed while they have a REAL ID are missing the point

You don’t need absolute proof. You just need to overcome the basis for the stop, which is often just profiling

REAL ID does that unless ICE has reason to think a specific ID is invalid
jaredmcclain.bsky.social Jared @jaredmcclain.bsky.social · 14d
Add to this that HSI just filed a declaration in our case challenging these policies saying they can’t trust REAL IDs as proof of status.

So showing your papers isn’t even enough to end the stop.
December 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Even a young(er) Sam Alito agreed having a REAL ID would establish legal status.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The Continued Detention Policy authorizes the very type of seizures that Alcocer forbids-but at scale. Many of these seizures turn into arrests that exceed the officers' power under 8 C.FR. § 287.8(c)(2) (i)-(ii). Under the policy, immigration officers can detain workers-initially seized on the premise that they are undocumented-even after workers show proof of citizenship or lawful presence. Supra pp 11-12. It happened to Leo twice. Both times, officers had his driver's license in hand within minutes. Supra pp. 5-6. Alabama issues licenses only to citizens or those who are lawfully present, Ala. Code § 31-13-29(c) (1), (g), specifically "to discourage illegal immigration within the state and maximize enforcement of federal immigration laws through cooperation with federal authorities." United States v. Alabama, 691 F3d 1269, 1276 (11th Cir. 2012). Thus, Leo was "entitled to the presumption that he... [was] lawfully present." Ala. Code § 31-13- 3(11). Leo's license also has a star in the corner, which he could obtain only with the documents DHS certifies are compliant with the federal REAL ID Act. 6 C.ER. § 37.71.5 Under that Act, a REAL ID "suffice[s] to establish lawful presence." Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 449 n.1 (2012) (Alito, J., concurring in part).
December 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
DHS is also the agency responsible for certifying that state IDs comply with the REAL ID Act.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
235. A REAL. ID is presumptive proof of citizenship. 236. Evidence of lawful status like a REAL ID negates even reasonable suspicion-and especially negates whatever suspicion could be created through DHS's generalized profile of undocumented construction workers. 237. When an officer seizes someone based only (or even mostly) on their demographic profile, it should not take much counter-evidence to dispel the suspicion. A REAL. ID is more than enough. 238. DHS certifies that REAL IDs comply with the REAL ID Act, which provides that the federal government will accept licenses as REAL. IDs only if a state verifies an applicant's citizenship or immigration status before issuing the license. 239. Duly promulgated federal regulations also establish that a state-issued REAL. ID has been certified as complying with the REAL ID Act, 6 C.F.R. § 37.3, which includes security features for IDs to prevent forgery, id. $5 37.15, 37.17, and a requirement that IDs be issued only to applicants who provide evidence of lawful status, id. § 37.11, after the state verifies their documents, id. $ 37.13. 240. REAL. IDs must also include barcodes to make them machine-readable. 6C.E.R. $ 37.19. 241. DHS certifies which licenses are REAL-ID-compliant and requires that any non-compliant IDs must have a unique design or color to distinguish them from REAL IDs and must clearly state that the card is not acceptable for official purposes. 6 C.FR. § 37.71. 242. Despite these regulations certifying the authenticity of REAL. IDs, requiring that they are issued only to people with legal status, and making it easy for officers to tell if a license is not REAL-ID compliant, DHS's continued detention policy does not recognize REAL. IDs as strong evidence of legal status. 243. The policy authorizes immigration officers to ignore the verification process that DHS has already completed in order to continue detaining workers with a REAL ID or other evidence that they are authorized to work.
December 13, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Jared
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Add to this that HSI just filed a declaration in our case challenging these policies saying they can’t trust REAL IDs as proof of status.

So showing your papers isn’t even enough to end the stop.
16. Only after being cuffed, Plaintiff stated that he had identification in his pocket. He was then brought to stand by the government vehicles. A subsequent search of his pocket by the HSI Special Agent located Plaintiff's wallet, containing Plaintiff's REAL ID-compliant Alabama driver's license, as well as a second driver's license. The HSI Special Agent needed to further verify his U.S. citizenship because each state has its own REAL ID compliance laws, which may provide for the issuance of a REAL ID to an alien and therefore based on HSI Special Agent training and experience, REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship.
December 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
The government has decided, with no basis other than feeding its new tech, that our biometrics are only IDs that count.
16. Only after being cuffed, Plaintiff stated that he had identification in his pocket. He was then brought to stand by the government vehicles. A subsequent search of his pocket by the HSI Special Agent located Plaintiff's wallet, containing Plaintiff's REAL ID-compliant Alabama driver's license, as well as a second driver's license. The HSI Special Agent needed to further verify his U.S. citizenship because each state has its own REAL ID compliance laws, which may provide for the issuance of a REAL ID to an alien and therefore based on HSI Special Agent training and experience, REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship. From page 4 Case 1:25-cV-00397-JB-N Doc# 44-1 Filed 12/11/25 Page 6 of 10 PagelD# 470
December 13, 2025 at 1:50 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Add to this that HSI just filed a declaration in our case challenging these policies saying they can’t trust REAL IDs as proof of status.

So showing your papers isn’t even enough to end the stop.
16. Only after being cuffed, Plaintiff stated that he had identification in his pocket. He was then brought to stand by the government vehicles. A subsequent search of his pocket by the HSI Special Agent located Plaintiff's wallet, containing Plaintiff's REAL ID-compliant Alabama driver's license, as well as a second driver's license. The HSI Special Agent needed to further verify his U.S. citizenship because each state has its own REAL ID compliance laws, which may provide for the issuance of a REAL ID to an alien and therefore based on HSI Special Agent training and experience, REAL ID can be unreliable to confirm U.S. citizenship.
December 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Reposted by Jared
rockshrimp.bsky.social
abject bad faith will continue until abject bad faith has professional and personal consequences
mszafranski.bsky.social Matt Szafranski @mszafranski.bsky.social · 14d
My bet is Blanche or Ensign or some other ghoul called Taylor directly. There may be no emails. (Then again, these aren't very bright guys.) If there's any plausible way she can do it, Xinis should drag Taylor into court.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 14d
Anyway, a very good FOIA to file this morning would be for all emails and calls received in the last 24 hours by the immigration “judge” who issued the order.
December 12, 2025 at 2:56 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Really thorough and interesting look at all the big corporations selling the government new ways to destroy our basic freedoms, and often doing it for cheap.
peter.andringa.me Peter Andringa @peter.andringa.me · 16d
NEW: We took a deep dive into ICE's data dragnet: the data brokers, biometrics tools, and license plate readers powering Trump's deportation effort. Some of the contracts are for tools previous administrations deemed too intrusive.
Trump’s immigration data dragnet
The US is pulling in vast amounts of personal information in its drive to deport 1mn people this year
ig.ft.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Jared
cjciaramella.bsky.social
Another prosecution in Chicago for assaulting federal law enforcement has fallen apart after a grand jury refused to indict storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Screenshot of linked court document: "The Government explained that the motion to dismiss the complaint was prompted after a federal grand jury returned a “no bill” and refused to indict Mr. Griffin within the time allowed by the Court [Dkt. 17]"
December 11, 2025 at 5:32 PM
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
"And that's the best I can do" is a wild fucking answer.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15d
🚨Judge Xinis finds that, incredibly, Mr. Abrego Garcia was never ordered deported in 2019. She notes that every since this saga began all the way back in March, the government has NEVER been able to produce any evidence that the immigration judge actually issued a removal order.
B. No Order of Removal Exists for Abrego Garcia No such order of removal exists for Abrego Garcia. When Abrego Garcia was first wrongly expelled to El Salvador, the Court struggled to understand the legal authority for even seizing him in the first place. At the first hearing in Abrego I, the Court inquired of Respondents’ counsel: The Court: I want to ask, though, the very specific question, if there is a final order of removal, what . . . document got this process started? There is no warrant for his arrest by an order of removal. There is no statement of probable cause. There’s no charge. There’s no report that says that anyone saw Mr. Abrego Garcia doing anything illegal or criminal. So what is the actual document that gave these officers the authority to start this process? Counsel: That is not in the record, and the government has not put that into the record. And that’s the best I can do. Abrego I, ECF No. 33 at 21:11–22. The Court continued to press counsel about the existence of a removal order and was told plainly that none can be found: The Court: Okay. So if there’s a Title 8 removal order, there would be an order of removal that’s being executed, and we don’t have one for Mr. Abrego Garcia, right? . . . Do you have that order? . . . Is it in the record? Counsel: I do not have that order. It is not in the record. Id. at 23:7–24:4. Since that time, Respondents have never produced an order of removal despite Abrego Garcia hinging much of his jurisdictional and legal arguments on its non-existence. ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 68–69; ECF No. 32 at 10, 15–17, 27; ECF No. 87 at 11–12. Indeed, Respondents twice sponsored the testimony of ICE officials whose job it is to effectuate removal orders, and who candidly admitted to having never seen one for Abrego Garcia. See ECF No. 107 at 30:16–22 (testimony of Cantú) (“Q: Based upon your many years of experience you described to us, you know what a final order of removal looks like, right, sir? Cantú: I do. Q: And have you seen a final order of removal in regard to Mr. Abrego Garcia? Cantú: I have not.”). See also Abrego I, ECF No. 234 at 46:6–12 (testimony of interim Assistant Director for ICE Removal Operations, Thomas Giles (“Giles”)) (“Q: You have not seen the final order of removal, have you, sir? Giles: What do you mean by that? Q: I mean, you have not seen a piece of paper that represents the final order of removal vis-a-vis Mr. Abrego Garcia, correct? Giles: No, I have not.”).15 Based on this, the Court concludes that no order of removal exists.
December 11, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Jared
jaredmcclain.bsky.social
Great piece connecting some of the dots on how the administration is using (and misusing) a massive network of data to increase immigration enforcement.

The constant expansion of the surveillance state puts all of our privacy and safety is at risk.
Screenshot from the piece: “I think that if you fit the demographic profile that they're targeting and you are a citizen, [authorities] view the 30 minutes or three hours or three days that you spend in custody as just a necessary cost of the current enforcement system and the quotas and the bonuses and everything that goes along with that,” says Jared McClain, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which is representing Garcia Venegas.
December 10, 2025 at 7:35 PM