A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles to detain people based solely on race, ethnicity, language spoken and other aspects.
U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong granted the request for a short lived restraining order filed by quite a few recent detainees and several other immigrant rights and legal aid organizations. The judge set a brand new hearing for July 16 within the case that features the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Plaintiffs include the ACLU of Southern California, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, United Farm Employees, Immigrant Defenders Law Center in addition to three Pasadena men who were arrested June 18 while waiting at a bus stop: Pedro Perdomo, Carlos Osorto and Isaac Molina.
The 52-page decision released Friday evening by Frimpong comes after weeks of media coverage of shocking scenes of militaristic law enforcement actions unfolding across Southern California. Frimpong lays out the 4 core legal issues at stake with plain-spoken clarity in bullet-point form firstly of the choice.
“Is it illegal to conduct roving patrols which discover people based on race alone, aggressively query them, after which detain them with out a warrant, without their consent, and without reasonable suspicion that they’re without status? Yes, it’s,” the judge wrote.
For the reason that blitz by the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies began on June 6, local outlets within the nation’s second-largest media market have been rife with footage of masked, unidentified federal agents swarming work sites, Home Depot stores and other stores and a number of other settings. Local TV newscasts have been stuffed with residents telling heartbreaking stories of neighbors, friends, associates, gardners, retail operators, child care providers and plenty of others disappearing suddenly with no information.
“Roving patrols without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment to the Structure and denying detainees access to legal counsel violates the Fifth Amendment,” Frimpong wrote.
The judge also ordered federal officials to offer detainees access to legal counsel for eight hours a day on weekdays, 4 hours a day on weekends. The ruling also orders them to permit detainees to conduct confidential telephone calls with attorneys and other legal representatives at no charge.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass brought the difficulty of the federal raids to the forefront on July 7 when she intervened while federal agents was delivering a made-for-TV massive show of force in L.A.’s MacArthur Park, sweeping through with mounted offices and tank-like vehicles. The Mayor’s arrival on scene effectively stopped the activity. The primary few weeks after the raids began, downtown Los Angeles and other spots erupted with protest activity and sporadic violence.
Frimpong’s ruling details the tough conditions for detainees within the basement of the federal facility at 300 N. Los Angeles Avenue, or “B-18” as described within the ruling. As of June 20 greater than 300 individuals are being held in cramped and unhygienic conditions, without food and fresh water for long stretches, Frimpong wrote.
The judge’s rule lays out the case why the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policy has violated the Structure. The ruling bans ICE, DHS and other agenices from forming a “reasonable” suspicion for detaining someone if that suspicion is just based on a number of of 4 aspects, Frimpong wrote: “Apparent race or ethnicity; Speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent; Presence at a selected location (e.g. bus stop, automobile wash, tow yard, day laborer pick up site, agricultural site etc; or the style of work one does.”