The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), demanding an immediate halt to what it describes as “unlawful immigration raids” across the Los Angeles area.
The left-leaning nonprofit accuses the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of carrying out unconstitutional raids and targeting “migrants with brown skin.” The plaintiffs allege that DHS and ICE have carried out unconstitutional arrests in order to meet arrest quotas allegedly set out on June 6 by the Trump administration. The suit specifically claims that officials have based arrests and detentions on race and ethnicity with no articulable reasonable suspicion.
"The raids in this district follow a common, systematic pattern. Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from," said the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that these immigration raids violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights laid out in the Bill of Rights. The Fourth Amendment protects American citizens from unreasonable search and seizure by the government, while the Fifth Amendment guarantees citizens' right to due process within the judicial system. The class action does not address the discrepancy between the status of an American citizen and an illegal alien in the United States.
The suit led by the ACLU accuses ICE of detaining these migrants in inhumane conditions, without beds, and of depriving them of food and legal counsel. The lawsuit references a holding facility used by ICE, known as the B-18 center, and characterizes the facility as overcrowded, cramped, and windowless. "In these dungeon-like facilities, conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional," the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit demands that the federal government cease using the B-18 center, as well as the immigration raids altogether.
The defendants named in the class action include Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other regional ICE, CBP, and FBI officials operating in their official capacities.
Together, individual immigrants and immigrant advocacy organizations, led by the ACLU and the non-profit Public Counsel, filed their grievances as a class action lawsuit.
"The federal government is waging a campaign of terror across Southern California, abducting community members off the streets and warehousing them in deplorable conditions away from their loved ones, all while denying them access to legal counsel," said Alvaro M. Huerta at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. "It’s blatantly unconstitutional, cruelly inhumane, and a violation of any common decency. If the Trump administration insists on trampling Angelenos’ rights, we’ll see them in court."
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In a statement to FOX 11 on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied all claims made within the lawsuit. "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically false," said McLaughlin. She also denied the claims about poor conditions at ICE facilities.
"Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false," said McLaughlin. "In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members."
McLaughlin characterized the lawsuit's claims as "garbage", according to Fox 11 in Los Angeles.
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