Federal lawsuit says Trump administration targeting people based on perceived ethnicity
Police block a street during a protest on Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles File photo by Eric Thayer Associated Press A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday says the Trump administration systematically targets brown-skinned people in Southern California during an ongoing immigration crackdown that has put the region under siege The court filing by Los Angeles immigrant advocacy groups in U S District Court seeks a temporary restraining order to block the administration from using unconstitutional tactics which they say include detaining someone based on their ethnicity warrantless arrests and denying people access to attorneys Federal agents have violently and indiscriminately arrested people without probable cause while carrying out immigration raids flooding street corners bus stops parking lots agricultural sites day laborer corners the complaint mentioned The complaint centers around three detained immigrants several immigrant rights groups and two U S citizens one who was held despite showing agents his identification A video taken by a friend June shows Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia being pushed up against a fence by federal agents as he yells I was born here in the states East LA bro Armed masked goons in unmarked cars have descended in our society and have stopped and rounded people up from all walks of life often at gunpoint and without any justification mentioned Mohammad Tajsar an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California In addition the complaint maintains that those arrested are held in dungeon-like conditions without access to lawyers pressuring them to sign voluntary departures papers without informing them of their rights Families of detainees have relayed reports of horrific conditions inside a detention facility in downtown LA including inmates who are so thirsty that they have been drinking from the toilets people sleeping on the ground and meals consisting of only bags of chips and cookies The lawsuit comes days after the Trump administration sued Los Angeles to overturn what it called an illegal sanctuary city law Tricia McLaughlin assistant secretary of the U S Department of Homeland Prevention claimed in an email that any declares that individuals have been targeted by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE McLaughlin claimed that enforcement operations are highly targeted and officers do their due diligence before making arrests but offered no proof Attorneys say they hope to argue the issue in front of a judge within the next minimal days and obtain a restraining order that would apply to seven counties across Southern California Emmanuel Karim the manager of a car wash in southern Los Angeles County mentioned at a news conference announcing the lawsuit that he thought they were being robbed when masked federal agents in unmarked vehicles first surrounded his business June We have these signs that say This is a private area employees only especially in the tunnel because there is dangerous machinery in there Karim revealed They started running through the tunnel and my employees got scared At no point did they identify themselves or answer Karim when he demanded what they were doing he noted They detained two of his workers Karim mentioned
