WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing “the most illegal search I have ever seen in my life,” a magistrate judge is upbraiding the federal government for the way it has handled arrests in the District of Columbia this month and says the possible effects — violations of rights and the potential for illicit detentions — are not legally acceptable.

“We don’t just charge people criminally, throw them in the jail for a few weeks and then bring them in here and say, ‘Oops, my bad,'" Judge Zia Faruqui said from the bench Monday. "I have never ever in my life seen something close to the illegality of this search."

He spoke during a series of hearings this week for people who landed in federal courtrooms on the direction of the Justice Department on charges that, in most jurisdictions, would be handled by loca

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