On a clear September morning in my small apartment in Harlem, I got a call from a relative telling me to turn on the TV as something horrible had happened. Moments later, I watched in shock as sirens and chaos filled the streets of New York City.
Twenty-five years later, the memories of 9/11 remain vivid, yet, it is what followed the tragic attacks that still haunts us today. In that period, our government scapegoated entire communities, compromised fundamental rights and dramatically broadened its power over our daily lives. As part of this effort, the government expanded its national security apparatus, created the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and brought immigration enforcement under its umbrella.
In the name of “protecting Americans from terrorism,” the government subjected South Asian, Arab and Muslim communities in the U.S. to surveillance, detention, racial and religious profiling and other violations of their constitutional rights.
People were singled out not because of what they had done, but because of what they looked like, whom they prayed to, their last name or where they came from.
Those abuses did not disappear with the passage of time. Neither did the powers that enabled them.
Today, the government — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), specifically — is carrying out an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign targeting primarily Latine and Hispanic communities across the country. Invoking the specter of a foreign “invasion” rather than a “war on terror,” the government has promised the “largest deportation operation in the history of our country,” and it has pressured agents to increase arrests.
Here, in Southern California, we have seen what happens when that mandate collides with constitutional rights. Following violent and discriminatory raids across our region in the summer of 2025, the ACLU SoCal and our partners filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the raids. Most recently, we uncovered governmental records, sworn testimony, text messages, and body-worn camera footage showing federal agents engaged in unlawful stops and arrests.
As a matter of law, federal agents cannot simply stop and arrest someone because they suspect that person may be undocumented. Agents also cannot use racial profiling to choose whom to stop. They need to have specific information about an individual providing them reasonable suspicion that the person is in the U.S. in violation of immigration law.
Before making a warrantless civil immigration arrest, the law requires agents to have probable cause that a person is unlawfully present and that a person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. The government’s own evidence shows agents repeatedly disregarding those requirements.
The evidence also shows agents using racist slurs and dehumanizing language to refer to Latine and Hispanic immigrants while conducting their raids.
These slurs are more than offensive. They reveal an institutional culture in which violence and bigotry are deeply entrenched.
Again, federal agents are targeting people simply because of their appearance. In this instance, people who appear to be Latine or work in low-wage jobs. This is not just immoral, it is also unlawful. Our Constitution does not permit law enforcement to use race as a substitute for individualized reasonable suspicion.
Twenty-five years after 9/11, today’s profiling feels painfully familiar. This is not because the government has stopped targeting South Asian, Arab and Muslim communities (indeed, that profiling continues), it is because once again the government is abusing its extraordinary powers in unlawful ways. From the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II to today, our history has shown the consequences when fear overrides constitutional rights.
We should not accept people being mistreated because of what they look like or where they come from as an inevitable reality. If we are truly a “nation of laws,” then the government cannot be above the law. Any government agency that is either unwilling or unable to comply with the Constitution must be eliminated or fundamentally restructured. A quarter of a century after its creation, that means dismantling ICE as we know it and building an approach to immigration that is humane, lawful and accountable to the people it serves.
As we mark this solemn anniversary, we rightly remember the nearly 3,000 people killed on 9/11 and the first responders who risked life and limb to save others. We will never forget those heroes who still suffer health impacts decades later.
And we also remember the communities who were attacked unjustly in its aftermath. “Never forget” must also mean confronting how our government responded – and refusing to enable the sacrifice of our constitutional rights as a permanent feature of American life.
Chandra S. Bhatnagar is executive director of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.
