Opinion ID: 797149
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Laville's Custodial Statement to ICE

Text: 29 Having erroneously found that Laville's arrest was unlawful and that his statements to Santos must be suppressed, the District Court next considered the statement Laville made while in ICE custody. The District Court determined that a new arrest occurred when the VIPD transferred Laville into the custody of ICE. Finding that the government failed to make an independent showing of probable cause for this new arrest, the District Court ordered that Laville's custodial statement to ICE also be suppressed. 30 If Laville's arrest had been unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, then the District Court may have been correct to suppress his custodial statement to ICE as fruit of the poisonous tree. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484-86, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). We need not decide this question, however, because Laville's arrest was reasonable. Where his initial arrest by territorial authorities did not violate the Fourth Amendment, ICE was not required to make an independent showing of probable cause before assuming custody. Such custodial transfers are relatively common in the immigration context, see, e.g., United States v. Bowley, 435 F.3d 426, 428 (3d Cir.2006); Yang v. Maugans, 68 F.3d 1540, 1544 (3d Cir.1995), and none of the authorities cited by the District Court, and none of which we are aware, even implies that a custodial transfer constitutes a new arrest requiring a separate showing of probable cause. See, e.g., California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 624-28, 111 S.Ct. 1547, 113 L.Ed.2d 690 (1991) (discussing when a Fourth Amendment seizure occurs, but not discussing a transfer of custody); Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 590, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) (involving warrantless entry of a home for purposes of making felony arrest); Sharrar v. Felsing, 128 F.3d 810, 819-20 (3d Cir.1997) (same); United States v. Sanchez, 509 F.2d 886, 889 (6th Cir.1975) (involving the Fourth Amendment's particularity requirement for search warrants). We therefore find that Laville's transfer into ICE custody was not a new arrest requiring an independent showing of probable cause, and that the District Court erred in suppressing Laville's subsequent statement to ICE.