Immigration officer detained Cheektowaga woman with pending asylum claim for 26 days after warrantless arrest

On January 24, 2026, a federal immigration officer detained R.C.R., a 55-year-old resident of Cheektowaga, New York, without a judicial warrant while she was in a Walmart parking lot with her husband, F.R.P. According to a class-action complaint later filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and The Legal Aid Society, R.C.R. had a pending asylum application and employment authorization at the time of her arrest. She was taken into immigration custody and held for 26 days, before being released on bond on February 19, 2026.

The warrantless arrest was among a series of immigration enforcement actions documented in NYCLU v. DHS et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on April 8, 2026, by the NYCLU, The Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, and Covington & Burling LLP. The lawsuit names R.C.R. as a plaintiff and alleges that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection engaged in a pattern of unlawful stops, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling of New Yorkers based on race, ethnicity, and national origin, in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Updates

2026-04-08 — Class action filed in E.D.N.Y. naming R.C.R. as plaintiff over warrantless arrest [1][2][3]

NYCLU, The Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, and Covington & Burling LLP filed NYCLU v. DHS et al. (E.D.N.Y.) on April 8, 2026. The complaint names R.C.R. as a plaintiff and alleges that federal immigration agents conducted a pattern of unlawful stops, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling of New Yorkers in violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.