More than a dozen additional cities have joined the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, accusing federal officials of racially profiling and unlawfully stopping people during immigration raids, officials announced Friday.
After the suit was filed last month the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel and other immigration and civil rights attorneys, the city and county of LA as well as other LA County cities joined the plaintiffs.
The announcement Friday confirmed the complaint has been updated to add the cities of Pasadena, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pico Rivera, Montebello, Monterey Park and West Hollywood in the case of Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem.
Other regional municipalities such as Long Beach, Pomona, South Gate, Lynwood, Huntington Park, Paramount, Bell Gardens, Beverly Hills, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Oxnard had joined LA in filing the complaint.
The lawsuit accused ICE and Customs and Border Protection of engaging in “unconstitutional and unlawful stops, roundups and raids without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.”
“Since these illegal raids started in L.A. on June 6, I have maintained that every person in the United States, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to constitutional protection from the types of enforcement activities we have seen,” LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said. “We will always stand up to protect our communities and to uphold the rule of law.”
Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowe also said ICE raids have rattled many communities across Santa Barbara County.
“While the city supports the enforcement of established laws, it strongly objects to the methods being used and is filing a petition to intervene in Vasquez Perdomo et al. v. Noem et al., joining other jurisdictions in defending constitutionally protected rights and ensuring accountability in enforcement practices,” Rowse said.
A Los Angeles federal court on July 11 issued a temporary restraining order against the federal government to refrain from conducting so-called “roving raids,” which targeted workplaces with car washes and garment factories as well as parking lots where day laborers gather.
Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the federal government’s request to reverse the order prohibiting federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, from continuing what U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong determined were unlawful actions in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.
On Thursday, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the court order barring federal agents from making immigration arrests.