Federal immigration arrests in SoCal are violating constitutional rights, new lawsuit argues

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.

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“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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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.”