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‘Alligator Alcatraz' Migrants Sue to Gain Access to Attorneys
‘Alligator Alcatraz' Migrants Sue to Gain Access to Attorneys

Bloomberg

time17-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Bloomberg

‘Alligator Alcatraz' Migrants Sue to Gain Access to Attorneys

Migrants at a new detention facility in the Florida Everglades filed a lawsuit claiming they have been denied access to lawyers and the courts in violation of their constitutional rights. The lawsuit claims that the site, known as 'Alligator Alcatraz,' has no procedure for migrants to contact lawyers, and the government has made it 'virtually impossible' to file motions with an immigration court to seek their release from detention.

Judge Slaps Down Trump's ICE for Widespread Racial Profiling in California
Judge Slaps Down Trump's ICE for Widespread Racial Profiling in California

Yahoo

time13-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Yahoo

Judge Slaps Down Trump's ICE for Widespread Racial Profiling in California

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to halt its indiscriminate immigration raids across California. The order was made in response to a filing from immigrant advocacy groups accusing the administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California—leading to incidents like Marines detaining a veteran of Angolan and Portuguese heritage who was on his way to the Department of Veterans Affairs—as the Trump administration ramps up its immigration crackdown with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the country. The advocacy groups asked the judge to block the administration from using 'unconstitutional tactics' in immigration raids, including detaining people on the basis of race and denying detainees access to legal counsel. Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for Central California, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said there was a 'mountain of evidence' to support the groups' claims and issued two temporary orders: one that prohibits immigration agents from arresting people without reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally, and another that requires agents to allow detainees immediate access to legal counsel. 'The factors that defendants appear to rely on for reasonable suspicion seem no more indicative of illegal presence in the country than of legal presence—such as working at low-wage occupations such as car wash attendants and day laborers,' Frimpong wrote in her order late Friday. 'That is insufficient and impermissible.' The orders apply to Los Angeles County and six surrounding counties and are temporary as the case proceeds through the courts. It comes as the Trump administration has ramped up its deportation push across the country in an effort to reach a goal of 3,000 immigration arrests per day. The goal was set by Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, in May. ICE raids in Los Angeles sparked widespread demonstrations in early June, where Trump dispatched 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Earlier on Friday, border czar Tom Homan appeared on Fox News to discuss the case ahead of the ruling. Speaking to Griff Jenkins on Fox & Friends, Homan said, 'People need to understand ICE officers and Border Patrol don't need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them.' 'They just need to tally the circumstances ... based on the location, the occupation, their physical appearance, their actions," Homan added. 'Agents are trained, what they need to detain someone temporarily and question them is not probable cause; it's reasonable suspicion.' Legal experts were quick to correct Homan as soon as the video was posted to Twitter, with Congressman Daniel Goldman, a Democrat from New York and a lawyer who led the first impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, posting, 'This is patently false.' 'DHS has [the] authority to question and search people coming into the country at points of entry. But ICE may not detain and question anyone without reasonable suspicion—and certainly not based on their physical appearance alone,' he wrote. 'This lawlessness must stop.' While Homan's comments appear to confirm what immigration advocacy groups have argued is true and that ICE is targeting people based on race, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement to the Associated Press that 'any claims that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.' Newsom, meanwhile, heralded the ruling. 'Justice prevailed today,' he wrote on X Friday night. 'California stands with the law and the Constitution—and I call on the Trump administration to do the same." In a separate post, the governor's office took aim at White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's anti-immigrant policies. 'Instead of targeting the most dangerous people, federal officials have been arbitrarily detaining Americans and hardworking people, ripping families apart, and disappearing people into cruel detention to meet outrageous arrest quotas without regard to due process and constitutional rights that protect all of us from cruelty and injustice,' the office wrote on X Friday. Immigrant communities across California have been targeted by ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies since early June. Advocates have argued that these raids have targeted anyone who 'looks Hispanic' and have largely taken place at locations associated with immigrant workers, like Home Depot. An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said that his client, a U.S. citizen who was detained by immigration agents, was 'physically assaulted ... for no other reason than he was Latino and working at a tow yard in a predominantly Latin American neighborhood.'

Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration arrests in California
Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration arrests in California

France 24

time12-07-2025

  • Politics
  • France 24

Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration arrests in California

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit last week accusing President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown. The plaintiffs include three detained immigrants and two US citizens, one who was held despite showing agents his identification. The filing in US 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 holding facility in downtown LA. Judge Maame E. Frimpong also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility. Frimpong issued the emergency orders, which are a temporary measure while the lawsuit proceeds, the day after a hearing during which advocacy groups argued that the government was violating the Fourth and Fifth amendments of the constitution. She wrote in the order there was a 'mountain of evidence' presented in the case that the federal government was committing the violations they were being accused of. The White House responded quickly to the ruling late Friday. 'No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy — that authority rests with Congress and the President,' spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. 'Enforcement 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.' 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 have participated in rallies in the region over the raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. The order also applies to Ventura County, where busloads of workers were detained Thursday while the court hearing was underway after federal agents descended on a cannabis farm, leading to clashes with protesters and multiple injuries. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the recent wave of immigration enforcement has been driven by an 'arbitrary arrest quota' and based on 'broad stereotypes based on race or ethnicity.' 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 'looked Hispanic.' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that 'any claims that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.' McLaughlin said 'enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence' before making arrests. But ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar said Brian Gavidia, one of the US citizens who was detained, was 'physically assaulted ... for no other reason than he was Latino and working at a tow yard in a predominantly Latin American neighborhood.' 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't 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 'totality of the circumstances' including prior surveillance and interactions with people in the field. In some cases, they also operated off 'targeted, individualized packages,' he said. 'The Department of Homeland Security has policy and training to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment,' Skedzielewski said. Lawyers from Immigrant Defenders Law Center and other groups say they also have been denied access to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown LA known as 'B-18' on several occasions since June, according to court documents. Lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said in one incident on June 7 attorneys 'attempted to shout out basic rights' 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. 47:22 Skedzielewski said access was only restricted to 'protect the employees and the detainees' during violent protests and it has since been restored. Rosenbaum said lawyers were denied access even on days without any demonstrations nearby, and that the people detained are also not given sufficient access to phones or informed that lawyers were available to them. He said the facility lacks adequate food and beds, which he called 'coercive' to getting people to sign papers to agree to leave the country before consulting an attorney. Friday's 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. US Customs and Border Protection agents were already barred from making warrantless arrests in a large swath of eastern California after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in April.

Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops, arrests in California
Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops, arrests in California

Arab News

time12-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Arab News

Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops, arrests in California

LOS ANGELES: A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit last week accusing President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown. The plaintiffs include three detained immigrants and two US citizens, one who was held despite showing agents his identification. The filing in US 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 holding facility in downtown LA. Judge Maame E. Frimpong also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility. Frimpong issued the emergency orders, which are a temporary measure while the lawsuit proceeds, the day after a hearing during which advocacy groups argued that the government was violating the Fourth and Fifth amendments of the constitution. She wrote in the order there was a 'mountain of evidence' presented in the case that the federal government was committing the violations they were being accused of. The White House responded quickly to the ruling late Friday. 'No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy — that authority rests with Congress and the President,' spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. 'Enforcement 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.' 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 have participated in rallies in the region over the raids and the subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines. The order also applies to Ventura County, where busloads of workers were detained Thursday while the court hearing was underway after federal agents descended on a cannabis farm, leading to clashes with protesters and multiple injuries. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the recent wave of immigration enforcement has been driven by an 'arbitrary arrest quota' and based on 'broad stereotypes based on race or ethnicity.' 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 'looked Hispanic.' Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that 'any claims that individuals have been 'targeted' by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.' McLaughlin said 'enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence' before making arrests. But ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar said Brian Gavidia, one of the US citizens who was detained, was 'physically assaulted ... for no other reason than he was Latino and working at a tow yard in a predominantly Latin American neighborhood.' 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't 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 'totality of the circumstances' including prior surveillance and interactions with people in the field. In some cases, they also operated off 'targeted, individualized packages,' he said. 'The Department of Homeland Security has policy and training to ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment,' Skedzielewski said. Order opens facility to lawyer visits Lawyers from Immigrant Defenders Law Center and other groups say they also have been denied access to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in downtown LA known as 'B-18' on several occasions since June, according to court documents. Lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said in one incident on June 7 attorneys 'attempted to shout out basic rights' 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 only restricted to 'protect the employees and the detainees' during violent protests and it has since been restored. Rosenbaum said lawyers were denied access even on days without any demonstrations nearby, and that the people detained are also not given sufficient access to phones or informed that lawyers were available to them. He said the facility lacks adequate food and beds, which he called 'coercive' to getting people to sign papers to agree to leave the country before consulting an attorney. Friday's 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. US Customs and Border Protection agents were already barred from making warrantless arrests in a large swath of eastern California after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in April.

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