Trucker Challenges Arrest, ICE Detention After Traffic Stop

A weigh station in Iowa. (Iowa Department of Public Safety)

A U.S. immigration judge will decide whether a truck driver should be released from federal custody after a traffic stop in Iowa led to his arrest by immigration authorities.

Jagdish Singh, of India, won a partial victory April 20 when a federal judge agreed the government violated his Fifth Amendment due process rights in arresting him, but stopped short of ordering his immediate release.

Singh has been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since a Feb. 11 traffic stop when he was pulled over for allegedly bypassing an open weigh station on Interstate 80.

According to court records, an Iowa Department of Transportation inspector pulled Singh over and inspected his truck, issuing citations for:

• Bypassing an open weigh station
• Operating a commercial vehicle without proof of a periodic inspection
• Improperly displayed license plates
• Having a false report of his driving record

ICE officers at the scene conducted an immigration check, issued an arrest warrant and took Singh into custody.

Singh, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa’s Central Division, challenged his arrest and detention, arguing his constitutional rights had been violated.

Respondents in the case include Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, Daren Margolin, director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, two other ICE officials, and the Polk County sheriff and jail administrator.

Image

TT Top 100 Logistics Companies

The largest 3PLs in North America continued to face volatile business conditions last year, from compressed margins to tariff-driven supply chain upheaval. Read more

U.S. District Judge Stephen H. Locher agreed Singh’s rights were violated, characterizing the safety violations as “issued citations following minor traffic infractions.”

Locher noted Singh is a citizen of India who entered Arizona “without inspection” in September 2019. The judge also noted Singh filed for asylum in 2021 and received work authorization valid through May 2029, with his asylum application still pending.

Locher concluded the government violated Singh’s procedural due process rights “when they abruptly changed the rules and arrested him despite the government previously having allowed him to live and work in the United States,” and by holding him without an individualized custody determination.

“The Due Process Clause does not permit the government to whipsaw aliens like petitioner by telling them for years that they can legally live and work in the community but then turning around and claiming they are subject to mandatory detention,” Locher wrote. The judge said Singh is “not a criminal alien who has been convicted of serious crimes.”

Singh asked the court to order his immediate release or, alternatively, schedule a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

“If there was no evidence that petitioner had violated the terms of his release, the court would order immediate release. The mere fact of arrest would have violated his due process rights,” Locher wrote.

However, the judge said the violations stemming from the weigh-station stop raised a narrow but plausible question about whether, if proven, they could “shed light” on Singh’s dangerousness or risk of flight.

Locher ultimately ruled that an immigration judge must determine whether Singh violated the conditions of his release and whether continued detention by ICE is warranted.