By Vanguard Staff
MIAMI, Fla. — A federal court has ruled in favor of Peter Sean Brown, a U.S. citizen who was unlawfully held for deportation by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) in Florida after being misidentified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a Jamaican national.
The decision, issued Friday in Brown v. Ramsay, found that Brown’s constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated when MCSO detained him at ICE’s request despite clear evidence he was a U.S. citizen.
“This case highlights the significant threat posed to U.S. citizens by frequent ICE errors, which are exacerbated when local law enforcement agencies participate in immigration enforcement,” said Amien Kacou, staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida, which filed the lawsuit alongside co-counsel. “This case makes one thing clear: state and local police who act as ICE’s enforcers do so at their own peril.”
In April 2018, Brown was arrested on a probation violation and booked into the Monroe County jail. ICE issued a detainer request—despite having no probable cause—that misidentified him as a deportable immigrant. Brown repeatedly told jail officials he was a U.S. citizen born in Philadelphia and even showed them his Florida driver’s license. Nonetheless, the sheriff’s office held him for ICE. Only after intervention by friends and advocates was Brown released just before being transferred to a detention center for deportation.
The court rejected the sheriff’s claim that ICE’s detainer was justification for the detention, writing that “MCSO cannot abdicate its legal responsibility and turn a blind eye to this information.”
“This decision is a key reminder that the Fourth Amendment safeguards us all,” said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. “We have seen the ICE detainer system fail time and again, but the County still chose to put Mr. Brown through this nightmare.”
ICE detainers are non-binding requests that ask state and local law enforcement to detain individuals for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so ICE can assume custody. But courts have increasingly found these requests to be constitutionally problematic—especially when issued without probable cause.
Brown’s case is emblematic of broader concerns. The ACLU notes a rise in wrongful arrests and deportations of U.S. citizens amid ICE’s ongoing mass deportation efforts. In Florida, recent legislation such as SB 4-C has heightened those fears. That law makes it a felony for certain undocumented immigrants to enter the state based solely on immigration history, and has already resulted in the wrongful arrest of at least one U.S. citizen. A federal judge has since blocked enforcement of the law, finding it likely unconstitutional.
Sui Chung, executive director of Americans for Immigrant Justice, praised the court’s ruling as an important check on unconstitutional practices.
“We welcome the court’s ruling, which affirms that no person should be unlawfully detained based on flawed immigration enforcement practices,” Chung said. “Today’s decision brings long-overdue relief for Mr. Brown, whose unjust legal ordeal should never have happened.”
The case underscores the risks posed by local law enforcement entanglement in federal immigration enforcement—especially in the absence of strong safeguards against racial profiling, misidentification, and civil rights violations.
“His perseverance in this lawsuit reaffirms that the U.S. Constitution protects every Floridian, regardless of citizenship,” Kacou said.
The ruling adds Monroe County to a growing list of jurisdictions found liable or forced to settle claims over unlawful immigration holds. The ACLU warns that as long as local agencies comply blindly with ICE detainers, they expose themselves to both legal and moral consequences.
