CA4: Detention on a civil immigration warrant violated the Fourth Amendment, but qualified immunity applies

Detention on a civil immigration warrant violated the Fourth Amendment, but the defendants get 1983 qualified immunity. Santos v. Frederick County Bd. of Comm’rs, 725 F.3d 451 (4th Cir. 2013):

We agree with the district court that the deputies did not seize Santos until one of the two deputies gestured for her to remain seated while they verified that the immigration warrant was active. But the civil immigration warrant did not provide the deputies with a basis to arrest or even briefly detain Santos. Nonetheless, we conclude that the individual defendants are immune from suit because at the time of the encounter neither the Supreme Court nor this Court had clearly established that local and state law enforcement officers may not detain or arrest an individual based on a civil immigration warrant. Qualified immunity does not extend, however, to municipal defendants. We therefore affirm the district court’s award of summary judgment to the deputies and the Sheriff and vacate the district court’s dismissal of Santos’s action against the municipal defendants.