Temporary restraining orders granted regarding unlawful stops and access to counsel
LOS ANGELES – Today, a federal court found that the federal government’s ongoing immigration raids in Southern California and its denial of access to counsel for arrested immigrants likely violated the Constitution, and issued two temporary restraining orders (TRO) prohibiting the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), from continuing its unlawful actions in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.
The first TRO bars immigration agents from stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion and from relying on four factors – alone or in combination – including apparent race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or English with an accent; presence in a particular location like a bus stop, car wash, or agricultural site; or the work the person does. The second TRO orders DHS to provide access to counsel on weekdays, weekends, and holidays for people who are detained in B-18, the federal building in downtown Los Angeles.
Earlier this month, Southern California residents, workers, and advocacy groups across various industries sued the DHS for abducting and disappearing community members using unlawful stop and arrest practices and confining individuals at a federal building in illegal conditions while denying them access to attorneys.
Both the City and County of Los Angeles, among nine municipalities, moved to intervene on behalf of their residents in the case, and the state of California filed an amicus brief arguing in favor of the TRO concerning suspicionsless stops.
In response, the following statements were issued:
“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, representing the plaintiffs. “While it does not take a federal judge to recognize that marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons have been violating ordinary people’s rights throughout Southern California, we are hopeful that today’s ruling will be a step toward accountability for the federal government’s flagrant lawlessness that we have all been witnessing.”
“Today’s ruling has been made possible by everyday people standing up for the idea that the Constitution is still the law of the land, and applies to all of us,” said Annie Lai, director of the Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidary Clinic at the UC Irvine School of Law. “Our communities are strong not in spite of their diversity but because of it. While this is only one step in what will undoubtedly be a long fight, it is an important one.”
“Today’s historic ruling means the federal government cannot fence off the Constitution from Los Angeles and surrounding communities,” said Mark Rosenbaum, senior special counsel for strategic litigation at Public Counsel. “The court ruled clearly that DHS’s unlawful and abusive practice of denying attorney access to car wash workers, nannies, and other hardworking community members rounded up and detained in cruel and coercive conditions—without beds, meals, or even minimal hygiene—must end immediately. The question now for our federal government is whether it is prepared to conduct its operations under the rule of law. To date, the answer has been no.
“Farm workers rise before dawn to feed this country—there is no labor more dignified,” said Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers (UFW). “No one should be targeted, profiled, or terrorized for being brown and working hard. We are pleased the court recognized what’s at stake: the basic right to live and work without fear. We will keep fighting until that right is fully protected for all farm workers.”
“Our neighbors should not have to fear simply existing in public spaces, going to work, taking the bus, or dropping their kids off at school. With this ruling, federal agents are bound by the law, not by racial profiling or political agendas,” said Armando Gudino, executive director of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network. “The message is clear: being Latino is not enough to stop someone. Our communities can begin to breathe again.”
"When DHS agents caged people in deplorable conditions without warrants or access to counsel, they trampled upon our Constitution and thought they could get away with it. For weeks, our lawyers faced unlawful hurdles while trying to provide counsel to detained people. Today's decision clearly tells the federal government to stop violating the law," said Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation & advocacy at Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). "Every person has the right to live, work, and participate in their community without having to fear DHS’ violent ‘arrest-first, ask-questions-later' tactics. This ruling sends a powerful message: in Southern California, we will defend our communities, we will fight back against injustice, and we will win."
“Due process, access to counsel, dignity and respect were not afforded to our loved ones, our friends, our neighbors as ICE plowed through our community in their obsessive, racially motivated quest for quotas,” said Angelica Salas, executive director at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “No one is above the law and today’s decision reaffirms that President Trump and all its immigration enforcement apparatus must follow the Constitution.”
The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, Public Counsel, Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin, UC Irvine School of Law Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, ACLU Foundations of Northern California and San Diego & Imperial Counties, Hecker Fink LLP, Martinez Aguilasocho Law, Inc, CHIRLA, and ImmDef.
Read the order
