Topline:
Federal agents detained 16 people in a Westlake Home Depot parking lot early Wednesday, despite a court order temporarily halting indiscriminate sweeps in the region.
What happened? Agents arrived in a rented Penske moving van, according to a Fox News reporter who accompanied the agents.
What is the government saying? Officials called the action "Operation Trojan Horse." A federal prosecutor wrote online that immigration enforcement had not stopped in Southern California and that “there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
The backstory: Last week, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's temporary restraining order blocking the federal government from detaining people based on factors such as their ethnicity, the language they speak, where they are and the work they do. Judge Maame E. Frimpong issued the restraining order in July, citing a "mountain of evidence" that agents were violating the Constitution.
ACLU responds: Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the lead plaintiff in that case, said in a statement that the action "raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation of the federal judge's July temporary restraining order."
Read on … for Penske’s response.
Federal agents detained 16 people in a Westlake Home Depot parking lot early Wednesday, according to a government statement. The action comes despite a court order temporarily halting indiscriminate sweeps in the region.
The agents arrived in a rented Penske moving van, according to a Fox News reporter who accompanied the agents. Video posted on social media by the reporter shows men in U.S. Border Patrol vests who appear to be hiding in the van's closed cargo area. The rolling back door then opens and the agents run into the parking lot just east of MacArthur Park.
U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, who is leading operations in L.A., and the Department of Homeland Security called it "Operation Trojan Horse." A Homeland Security statement said the people arrested were from Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua. It did not say whether the agency had arrest warrants.
The people arrested were day laborers and street vendors outside the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles, the group's executive director said.
Last week, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's temporary restraining order blocking the federal government from detaining people based on factors such as their ethnicity, the language they speak, where they are and the work they do. Judge Maame E. Frimpong issued the restraining order in July, citing a "mountain of evidence" that agents were violating the Constitution.
Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the lead plaintiff in that case, said in a statement that the action "raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation of the federal judge's July temporary restraining order."
"As shown at every step in the case thus far, the government seems unwilling to fulfill the aims of its racist mass deportation agenda without breaking the law," Tajsar said.
Talia Inlender, deputy director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy, said it's hard to imagine that Wednesday's action didn't violate the court order on indiscriminate sweeps. And she said she expects that the ACLU and the others who sued the government would go back to court.
LAist asked Homeland Security about the ACLU's contention that the action violated the temporary restraining order. The agency emphasized that Wednesday's action was "targeted."
Jorge-Mario Cabrera with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles said his organization had spoken with witnesses and families of people detained at the parking lot.
" The video and and witness testimonies indicate that there was no mention of a warrant. There were no specific interventions that would lead us to believe that this was a targeted enforcement activity," he said. "Instead it looks very random.... That is called racial profiling."
The operation comes after months of aggressive immigration enforcement across the L.A. area. Agents have descended on car washes, parking lots and other public places, prompting accusations of racial profiling.
"For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again," U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on social media. "The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government."
Penske Truck Rental said in a statement that it "strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles under any circumstances," and that it would reach out to the Department of Homeland Security to "reinforce its policy."
In response, the Department of Homeland Security mocked the truck rental company on social media.
