LA immigration violates the Constitution, says the new lawsuit

From Wendy Fry and Sergio OlmosCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

A lawsuit filed on Wednesday by civil and immigration groups accuses federal authorities of unrestricting a non -constitutional siege by grabbing workers and US citizens near Southern California streets and refusing food, water and the right to speak with a lawyer.

The federal class trial is intended to immediately stop immigration agents from raiding military -style LAs, which prioritize “clean numbers”, according to the complaint. He also strives to access a lawyer for the arrested, who are now held in overcrowded facilities similar to the dungeon where conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional, The submission saysS

Federal agents in combat equipment, some masked and armed with rifles, storming meetings for Swap, car wash, bus stops and churches since early June, grabbing people from sidewalks and drags mothers, workers, workers in the day and US citizens without explanation. The civil rights groups led by the US Civil Liberties Union claim that raids were part of an illegal mass arrest campaign, led by the Trump administration policy.

“Such seizures seem less like legal arrests, and more recently to Brazen, lunch abductions,” the lawsuit said.

At the end of May, the Deputy Chief of the White House Staff Stephen Miller issued a directive of immigration and the application of the customs authorities to carry out 3,000 immigration arrest History in Wall Street JournalS

“This area has been under siege since the beginning of June,” the complaint said. The trial is filed by the Center for ACLU Defenders Act, Public Council and Immigrants, among others. He calls the Ministry of Interior Security Minister Christie Noem and other senior immigration and customs law enforcement officers, the border patrol and the FBI as defendants.

DHS auxiliary secretary, Trisha McLaughlin, said the raids were “highly directed”.

“All the allegations that people were” directed “by the law enforcement agencies due to the color of their skin are disgusting and categorically false,” she wrote in an email. “This type (SIC) of smears are intended to demonize and abuse our bold icy law enforcement. reduce the temperature and reduce their rhetoric. “

Federal officials made similar allegations of such raids held in Kern County in January. After ACLU challenged the attacks in the court, later federal judge found that they had probably violated the ban on the constitution for unreasonable searches by issuing a preliminary order prohibiting those raids in the Central Valley.

The new suit makes the same arguments for Los Angeles attacks.

“They don’t care if you have documents”

Submitted on behalf of five persons and four advocacy groups, including United Ferms Workers, documents for submitting scattered repression aimed at dozens of places in the cities of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara, terrorizing mostly Latin American neighborhoods in the process. Among these places are at least 15 home -made parking lots, nine car washes, Santa Anna Park, a Santa Face Springs meeting and several churches.

The claim claims that agents detain people solely on the basis of their race, clothing or occupation, which would be a violation of the protection of the fourth amendment against unreasonable searches and guarantees for the fifth amendment for a proper process.

“They don’t care if you have documents, as long as you look like what they want to look will take you,” recalled a witness who saw the agents take a dark -skinned man who speaks Spanish only from the Christian Church of Downey Memorial on June 11.

Another witness said she saw federal agents pull people from baths during a military -style attack at a popular Los Angeles meeting, meeting with 60 highly armed agents. Videos made from the scene of this repression show armed agents dressed in camouflage, some of whom wore masks covering their identity. The border patrol made a video that boasts its actions there.

“If you look Spanish in any way, they just took you,” the witness said, according to the complaint.

At Culver City, agents descended on a car wash on June 8, dressed in either camouflage fatigue or in civilians driving unmarked cars. A witness saw an agent carrying a rifle for attack while running after a customer through a four -lane road. Other horrified customers shouted, “Don’t shoot!” In Westchestra the same day, armed agents in camouflage and helmets dealt with a fruit supplier on the ground, according to the costume.

In Orange County, on June 6, the agents surrounded and questioned Latin American men to paint a house while ignoring the white neighbors in nearby yards.

Used US citizens

Among the detainees was Heidi Plummer, a US citizen who caught an immigration raid while strolling through a park in Santa Ana on June 14th. It was handcuffed, placed in a vehicle with others and taken to the station and detained for an hour and a half before being released, the complaint said.

Andrea Veles, another US citizen, had dropped out at work in the center of Los Angeles when he was caught without explanation and without anyone asking her for her identification. Her mother, who witnessed the attack, said she seemed to be “abducting her.”

“The only thing that is wrong with her … was the color of her skin,” her mother said, according to the trial.

The plaintiffs in the court claim that federal agents do not have preliminary information about the people who are detaining, nor any commandments. They claim that agents arrest people without considering whether they pose a risk of flight before an order is received in violation of the federal law. They also claim that agents do not identify or tell people why they were arrested, also in violation of federal law.

Conditions “Conditions are Patient and unconstitutional”

The ice retention capacity curves under the arrest of arrests, which causes the agency to keep people in a basement in Los Angeles, known as the B-18. The basement is intended to be a short -term ice processing center, but now people are facing prolonged detention there without access to lawyers, according to the complaint. Thehe Immigration and nationality Act He says people have the right to call a lawyer while being held in immigration.

The detainees reported that they have little access to food or water. It is said that the detention areas were so crowded that there was no place to sit or treat.

“In these basement facilities, the conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional,” the complaint said. Faced with the terrible conditions of this site and others, some people have been pressured to accept “voluntary departure,” the complaint said, which helps federal authorities continue to arrest more people.

McLaughlin, assistant -secretary for internal security, denied the allegations of the judicial process on the conditions in the icy facilities.

“Any claim that there are conditions for an underestimation in ice retention centers is incorrect. In fact, ICE has higher standards of detention than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens,” McLaughlin said.

Mclaghlin said all detainees have been provided with appropriate dishes that are certified by nutritionists, medical treatment and are able to communicate with lawyers and family members.

“This is the best health that many aliens have received throughout their lives,” she added.

The 65 -page complaint asks the US District Court in Los Angeles to block federal immigration agents to continue raiding, declare their tactics non -constitutional, and allow access to advice for those who have been swept and detained.

“Despite the fear and risks associated with speaking publicly,” the claimants said, “the plaintiffs” take bold action to apply the rule of law. ”

Organizations that are part of the lawsuit are: the coalition for the humane rights of immigrants, the Los Angeles Work Center network, the united farms workers, and the legal center of immigrant defenders. The legal team includes South California ACLu lawyers, ACLU Norcal, based in LA, public adviser and UC Irvine School of Jaw Immigrant and Raci justice.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.