LOS ANGELES 鈥 A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles.
聽accusing President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its 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聽.
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Judge Maame E. Frimpong also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility.
The emergency orders聽鈥 a temporary measure while the lawsuit proceeds聽鈥 came聽the day after a hearing during which advocacy groups argued that the government was violating the Fourth and Fifth amendments of the Constitution.
Frimpong聽wrote in the order there was a 鈥渕ountain of evidence鈥 presented in the case that the federal government was committing the violations they were accused of.
鈥淣o federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy 鈥 that authority rests with Congress and the President,鈥 White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said late Friday. 鈥淓nforcement 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.鈥
Demonstrators march Friday in Oxnard, Calif., during a protest in reaction to recent immigration raids.
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 participated in rallies in the region over the raids and the subsequent聽听补苍诲听.
The order also applies to Ventura County, where busloads of workers were detained Thursday while the court hearing was underway after federal agents聽, leading to clashes with protesters and multiple injuries.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the recent wave of immigration enforcement was driven by an 鈥渁rbitrary arrest quota鈥 and based on 鈥渂road stereotypes based on race or ethnicity.鈥
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 鈥渓ooked Hispanic.鈥
A person waits outside of Glass House Farms on Friday, a day after an immigration raid on the facility in Camarillo, Calif.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that 鈥渁ny claims that individuals have been 鈥榯argeted鈥 by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.鈥
She added, 鈥渆nforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence鈥 before making arrests.
After the ruling, she said 鈥渁 district judge is undermining the will of the American people.鈥
ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar said Brian Gavidia, one of the U.S. citizens who was detained, was 鈥減hysically assaulted聽鈥 for no other reason than he was Latino and working at a tow yard in a predominantly Latin American neighborhood.鈥
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鈥檛 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 鈥渢otality of the circumstances鈥, including prior surveillance and interactions with people in the field.
Demonstrators gather Friday聽in Oxnard, Calif., during a protest in reaction to recent immigration raids.
Order opens facility to lawyer visits
Lawyers from Immigrant Defenders Law Center and other groups say they also were denied access to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown LA known as 鈥淏-18鈥 on several occasions since June, according to court documents.
Public Counsel lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said in one incident on June 7 attorneys 鈥渁ttempted to shout out basic rights鈥 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 restricted only聽to 鈥減rotect the employees and the detainees鈥 during violent protests and since was restored.
Rosenbaum said lawyers were denied access even on days without any demonstrations nearby, and detainees were not given sufficient access to phones or informed that lawyers were available.
He said the facility lacks adequate food and beds, which he called 鈥渃oercive鈥 to getting people to sign papers to agree to leave the country before consulting an attorney.
Friday鈥檚 order will 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 already were聽barred from making warrantless arrests in a large swath of eastern California after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in April.
