a day ago
Judge blocks random immigration raids in LA
July 12 (UPI) -- A federal judge in California issued two restraining orders blocking federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from conducting random detentions of people in Los Angeles and denying access to legal advice.
The ruling this week by U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong was in response to a lawsuit filed by a collection of plaintiffs, including two individual American citizens.
"The individuals and organizations who have brought this lawsuit argue that this organization had two key features, both of which were unconstitutional: 'roving patrols' indiscriminately rounding up numerous individuals without reasonable suspicion and, having done so, denying these individuals access to lawyers who could help them navigate the legal process they found themselves in," Frimpong wrote in the 52-page ruling.
"On this, the federal government agrees: Roving patrols without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and denying access to lawyers violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."
"What the federal government would have this Court believe -- in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case -- is that none of this is actually happening."
The lawsuit was filed earlier in the month and names Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel and several other federal officials as defendants.
The suit comes as ICE officers and agents from other federal agencies, including the FBI and DEA, continue immigration raids in the Los Angeles area at the direction of President Donald Trump.
The raids have entered their second month as Trump continues his promised crack down on immigration.
Demonstrators this week clashed with federal agents in Ventura County outside a cannabis growing operation.
Earlier in the week, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass indicated the city would join the lawsuit to block the Trump administration's immigration raids, but the municipality is not named as a plaintiff in the suit filed in District Court.
In her ruling, Frimpong pointed to several instances where people were questioned indiscriminately by federal agents and in some cases detained without lawyers for lengthy periods of time.
The two restraining orders remain in place for 10 days. The plaintiffs are seeking a more permanent preliminary injunction.
