ICE officers barred from impersonating police to conduct home arrests
LOS ANGELES – Pursuant to a court settlement approved today in Kidd v. Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are prohibited from identifying as state or local law enforcement and cannot engage in ruses that misrepresent their governmental identity or purpose.
U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II reviewed the settlement as part of a class action lawsuit challenging the agency’s home arrest practices in Los Angeles and the surrounding region. The lawsuit was filed in 2020, on behalf of an individual, Osny Sorto-Vazquez Kidd, and two community organizations that represent the class, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ) and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
“Our vibrant communities are built on trust. This settlement makes clear immigration officers are not above the Constitution and will be held accountable for their deceptive practices,” said Diana Sanchez, staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. “We’ll be monitoring to ensure ICE does not violate the rights of our community members.”
The settlement prohibits ICE officers from using deceptive ruses to enter a home or when asking a resident to exit their home. This includes identifying themselves as state or local law enforcement (e.g., LAPD), probation, parole, detectives, or any other non-federal governmental agency. It also will prohibit ICE officers from falsely stating they are conducting a criminal investigation or looking for someone else, conducting a probation or parole check, claiming there is a safety or legal problem with a person’s vehicle, or misrepresenting that their purpose involves danger to a resident or public safety.
“At a time when roving patrols of masked federal agents have illegally been disappearing people and separating families on our own streets, a home must be protected,” said Angelica Salas, executive director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “By prohibiting ICE agents from using trickery —for example, falsely claiming that there is an issue with a resident's vehicle--to lure people out of their homes, this settlement protects all its occupants and creates a safer community.”
The agreement further requires that ICE officers in the Los Angeles Field Office wear visible identifiers on their clothing prominently identifying them as “ICE” whenever they are wearing any “POLICE” identifier. This will prevent ICE officers from relying on “POLICE” identifiers and covering up any “ICE” identifiers, leading community members to believe that they are state or local law enforcement.
“For far too long, ICE disrespected the privacy of community members by taking shortcuts around the Constitution’s requirement that law enforcement have a warrant signed by a judge to enter a home,” said Annie Lai, director of the Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidary Clinic at the UC Irvine School of Law. “Thanks to this settlement, ICE must now be transparent about who they are if they don’t have a warrant and want to speak with someone at their home. These protections could not come at a better time.”
ICE will also be required to implement new training and directives. ICE must send a broadcast message to all officers in the L.A. Field Office explaining their obligations under the settlement agreement as well as conduct regular trainings on those requirements. ICE officers are also required to document certain information when making home arrests, and ICE must provide records of home arrests conducted by the L.A. Field Office to the class counsel for continued monitoring. This monitoring will remain in place for three years.
“This is a long overdue victory for our communities across the Inland Empire and beyond. For years, we’ve heard the testimonies: ICE agents impersonating local police, showing up at people’s doors, lying about their purpose, and using fear to tear families apart," said Lizbeth Abeln, deputy director at the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. “ICE can no longer use deception to target our communities. There’s more work to do, but this proves that ICE will no longer get away with their racist and harmful tactics.”
The agreement applies to ICE's L.A. Field Office, which covers the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo.
“The combination of this settlement agreement in conjunction with the court’s May 2024 ‘knock and arrest’ ruling curbs ICE’s deceptive home arrest practices and provides meaningful relief to the classes and the broader Southern California community,” said Giovanni Saarman González, partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.
In addition to this settlement, the plaintiffs secured a court order last year ruling that ICE officers and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents’ “knock and arrest” practice is unlawful. That order ruled that officers and agents may not enter the private area around a home, known as “curtilage,” without a judicial warrant or consent, with the intent to carry out a warrantless arrest of an individual. These rulings together provide important protections for community members to feel safe in their homes.
Individuals who believe they have been subjected to ruse or “knock and arrest” practices during home enforcement operations are encouraged to submit an intake online to help class counsel ensure ICE’s continued compliance with court orders.
Read the settlement: https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/kidd_v._noem_settlement_agreement.pdf
To learn more about your rights if federal immigration agents are at your home: https://www.aclusocal.org/en/icenotwelcome