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Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration
stops, arrests in California | AP News
By JAIMIE DING
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump
administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in
seven California counties, including Los Angeles.
Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit last week accusing President
Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned
people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown.
The plaintiffs include three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens,
one of whom was held despite showing agents his identification.
The filing in U.S. District Court asked a judge to block the
administration from using what they call unconstitutional tactics in immigration raids. Immigrant advocates accuse immigration officials of detaining someone based on their race, carrying out warrantless arrests,
and denying detainees access to legal counsel at a holding facility in
downtown LA.
Judge Maame E. Frimpong also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility in response to a request from nonprofit law firm Public Counsel.
Frimpong issued the emergency orders, which are a temporary measure while
the lawsuit proceeds, the day after a hearing during which advocacy groups argued that the government was violating the Fourth and Fifth amendments
of the Constitution.
She wrote in the order there was a "mountain of evidence" presented in the
case that the federal government was committing the violations they were
being accused of.
The White House responded quickly to the ruling late Friday.
"No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy - that authority rests with Congress and the President," spokesperson Abigail
Jackson said. "Enforcement operations require careful planning and
execution; skills far beyond the purview (or) jurisdiction of any judge.
We expect this gross overstep of judicial authority to be corrected on
appeal."
Communities on edge as administration steps up arrests
Immigrants and Latino communities across Southern California have been on
edge for weeks since the Trump administration stepped up arrests at car
washes, Home Depot parking lots, immigration courts and a range of
businesses. Tens of thousands of people have participated in rallies in
the region over the raids and the subsequent deployment of the National
Guard and Marines.
The order also applies to Ventura County, where busloads of workers were detained Thursday while the court hearing was underway after federal
agents descended on a cannabis farm, leading to clashes with protesters
and multiple injuries.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the recent wave of
immigration enforcement has been driven by an "arbitrary arrest quota" and based on "broad stereotypes based on race or ethnicity."
When detaining the three day laborers who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit,
all immigration agents knew about them is that they were Latino and were dressed in construction work clothes, the filing in the lawsuit said. It
goes on to describe raids at swap meets and Home Depots where witnesses
say federal agents grabbed anyone who "looked Hispanic."
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that "any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting
and categorically FALSE."
McLaughlin said "enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers
do their due diligence" before making arrests.
After the ruling, she said "a district judge is undermining the will of
the American people."
ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar said Brian Gavidia, one of the U.S. citizens
who was detained, was "physically assaulted ... for no other reason than
he was Latino and working at a tow yard in a predominantly Latin American neighborhood."
Tajsar asked why immigration agents detained everyone at a car wash except
two white workers, according to a declaration by a car wash worker, if
race wasn't involved.
Representing the government, attorney Sean Skedzielewski said there was no evidence that federal immigration agents considered race in their arrests,
and that they only considered appearance as part of the "totality of the circumstances", including prior surveillance and interactions with people
in the field.
In some cases, they also operated off "targeted, individualized packages,"
he said.
"The Department of Homeland Security has policy and training to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment," Skedzielewski said.
Order opens facility to lawyer visits
Lawyers from Immigrant Defenders Law Center and other groups say they also
have been denied access to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
facility in downtown LA known as "B-18" on several occasions since June, according to court documents.
Public Counsel lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said in one incident on June 7
attorneys "attempted to shout out basic rights" at a bus of people
detained by immigration agents in downtown LA when the government drivers honked their horns to drown them out and chemical munitions akin to tear
gas were deployed.
Skedzielewski said access was only restricted to "protect the employees
and the detainees" during violent protests and it has since been restored.
Rosenbaum said lawyers were denied access even on days without any demonstrations nearby, and that the people detained are also not given sufficient access to phones or informed that lawyers were available to
them.
He said the facility lacks adequate food and beds, which he called
"coercive" to getting people to sign papers to agree to leave the country before consulting an attorney.
Friday's order will temporarily prevent the government from solely using apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone's
occupation as the basis for reasonable suspicion to stop someone. It will
also require officials to open B-18 to visitation by attorneys seven days
a week and provide detainees access to confidential phone calls with
attorneys.
Attorneys general for 18 Democratic states also filed briefs in support of
the orders.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were already barred from making warrantless arrests in a large swath of eastern California after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in April.
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