The Brief

Recent immigration raids carried out by the Trump administration across Southern California have routinely violated detainees’ constitutional rights, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the federal government.

The lawsuit was brought by five workers who’ve been detained and four community organizations that focus on immigrant and worker rights. They allege federal agents have disregarded Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure and Fifth Amendment rights guaranteeing access to an attorney.

Attorneys for the workers say they hope the case will become a class action.

Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said at a news conference that his clients want a judge to stop federal agents from continuing to arrest people based solely on the color of their skin.

“Armed, masked goons in unmarked cars have descended in our communities and have stopped and rounded people up from all walks of life, often at gunpoint and without any justification,” Tajsar said. “To them, if you are brown, they will hunt you down. To them, if you have dark skin, they will take you in.”

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security told LAist that federal immigration agents are not racially profiling people for arrest and are not holding detainees in substandard conditions.

Detainment conditions called ‘deplorable’

The lawsuit alleges the government is holding hundreds of people in the basement of a downtown L.A. federal building that lacks beds, showers and medical facilities. The suit also claims that detainees are being held in cramped, windowless rooms where they often cannot sit or lie down.

Alvaro Huerta, an attorney with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said his firm “has attempted to get a hold of people who are being held at the basement of the federal building downtown… and we have been denied access to those people.”

Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in an email to LAist that federal agents do their due diligence when conducting immigration enforcement, and they are “highly targeted.”

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,” McLaughlin said.

Her husband went to work and never came back

Maria, the wife of a man arrested by federal agents while he was working at a car wash in Pomona, said medical care has been inadequate for her husband. She said he wasn’t given his diabetes medication when he was first detained.

“They just barely gave it to him after two weeks,” said Maria, who asked that her full name not be used because she is concerned about her personal safety. “He's there, holding on.”

Maria says her husband was arrested by federal immigration officials while working at a car wash in Pomona.

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David Wagner/LAist

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Maria said she doesn’t know why her husband was singled out for arrest.

“He's not a criminal,” she said. “He just went out to provide for his family. And you never think that these things would happen to your family, until it does.

“It's heartbreaking,” she continued. “My grandkids asked for him, and I just don't know what to tell them.”

What the plaintiffs hope to achieve

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to certify this case as a class action lawsuit, covering all people subject to "suspicionless" stops and warrantless arrests by unidentifiable federal agents.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said her group and the other plaintiffs hope to be in court within days. She said they plan to ask the judge to issue a temporary restraining order barring the federal government from arresting people without probable cause or holding detainees without access to a lawyer.

“Our community is asserting their rights, and ICE and all of these federal agents don't care,” Salas said. “It's super simple. Follow the Constitution.”

A slow leak from a chemical tank smeared an orange cloud across the sky of a Southern California neighborhood on Tuesday, but authorities said they quickly got it under control.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said authorities responded to a business that makes cleaning products after receiving a call shortly before noon about the cloud. Police evacuated a nearby middle school as a precaution, Katon said.

They do not yet know what the chemical was, but all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, he said. The regional air quality management district has deployed staff to the area to investigate, said Connie Villanueva, a spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The company, Shepard Bros., could not immediately be reached for comment.

Three company employees reported minor respiratory irritation and declined further treatment, Katon said.

The leak occurred in the city of La Habra near a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial warehouses about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of Anaheim.

Keary Godinez, who works in a nearby restaurant, said she saw what appeared to be a dark yellow cloud spread across the sky. The 20-year-old said she watched students across the street board buses to evacuate, but police told her the eatery could remain open.

“It looked like pollen dust,” Godinez said, adding she didn’t detect a smell from the cloud. “It just kind of smeared in the sky and started going away.”

La Habra Mayor Jose Medrano had urged residents to shelter in place and said some streets were being evacuated.

Luis Gomez, who manages a nearby pickleball program, said earlier Tuesday he saw the cloud, called police and was told anyone within a mile radius of the location was under an evacuation order.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue of former coach Phil Jackson outside their downtown arena next year.

The Lakers announced the plan Tuesday to honor Jackson, who led the Lakers to five championships and seven NBA Finals appearances during two stints totaling 11 seasons as their head coach.

The statue will be unveiled April 9 before the Lakers’ home game against Minnesota.

After his famed tenure leading Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six championships, Jackson joined the Lakers in 1999 and immediately began another era of major success for the 17-time NBA champion franchise.

His first three teams in Los Angeles won championships behind the dynamic duo of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, and the Lakers added two more titles in 2009 and 2010 led by Bryant and Pau Gasol. His Lakers also made the NBA Finals in 2004 and 2008.

Jackson set the Lakers franchise record for coaches with 610 victories while leading his teams to the playoffs in every year of his tenure, which ended in 2011.

“Phil Jackson defines championship basketball for a reason,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “His masterful approach to coaching brought out the best in some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. After he accepted my dad’s invitation to join the Lakers, Phil’s unmatched creativity and commitment to excellence restored our championship legacy, bringing five titles and setting a standard of excellence for generations to come. It is a great joy to be able to mark that achievement with the statue he so richly deserves.”

Jackson will be the ninth person associated with the Lakers to be honored with a statue in Star Plaza outside their arena. He joins Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bryant, O’Neal, broadcaster Chick Hearn and former coach Pat Riley, whose statue was unveiled earlier this year.

Jackson’s 11 championships as a head coach are the most in NBA history. The North Dakota native and former New York Knicks forward is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.