LA sues Trump admin over ICE raids
Los Angeles County and eight cities, including LA, Santa Monica and Culver City, are joining a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the tactics used by federal agents during recent ICE raids in the region.
LOS ANGELES – Eight cities and Los Angeles County announced on Tuesday that they’re joining a lawsuit against President Donald Trump‘s administration, calling federal agents’ tactics “unconstitutional,” and arguing that they’re more meant to instill fear than to protect the public.
What we know:
Los Angeles County and the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Montebello, Monterey Park and West Hollywood announced they were joining the lawsuit on Tuesday.Â
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and more, of violating the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution. The lawsuit calls the recent immigration raids across Southern California “unconstitutional,” saying that agents regularly fail to identify themselves and racially profile targets, arresting them without warrants or probable cause.
LA County sues Trump admin over ICE raids
Los Angeles County and eight cities, including Los Angeles, Pasadena and West Hollywood, are joining a lawsuit against the Trump administration over what it called “unconstitutional” immigration enforcement across the region.
What they’re saying:
“These unconstitutional roundups and raids cannot be allowed to continue,” LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said. “They cannot become the new normal. This cannot become routine, to send militarized troops into our streets without reasonable suspicion, without probable cause to round people up and take them away.”
On Monday, a swarm of armed federal agents descended on MacArthur Park in downtown LA, with officials on horseback and in armored vehicles sweeping the park, shutting down a children’s summer camp in the process. No one was arrested.
LA leaders call SoCal ICE raids ‘unconstitutional’
Los Angeles County and eight Southern California cities are suing Donald Trump’s administration, claiming tactics used at ICE raids in the region are unconstitutional. They’ve joined a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem.
Local leaders called the operation “an extraordinary escalation and an apparently completely performative show of force.”
LA Mayor Karen Bass said federal agents’ tactics threaten public safety. In several raids across the region, agents were reported to pull up in cars without license plates, with their faces covered and no clear identification.
“How do we know the difference between this and a kidnapping,” Bass asked.
Earlier this month, LAPD officers deployed to downtown after reports of a kidnapping. The kidnapping turned out to be an immigration raid, and led to protests and accusations against the LAPD of assisting federal officers.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: LAPD denies claims it’s helping ICE conduct immigration raids in Los Angeles
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo accused a federal agent of pointing a gun at a resident during a raid at a local bus stop.
“It’s unacceptable in my neighborhood,” Gordo said. “It is unacceptable in every neighborhood… for an armed man to jump out of a vehicle, not identify themselves, wield a weapon towards innocent bystanders.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 6 reportedly detained at bus stop in Pasadena
The other side:
After Monday’s operation at MacArthur Park, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Gregory Bovino told FOX News, “I don’t work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, ’cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.”
Meanwhile, Homeland Security officials have denied claims that agents don’t identify themselves in the field. In a post on X on Tuesday, DHS responded to California Sen. Alex Padilla introducing a bill that would require ICE agents to be “clearly identifiable,” with badges and without face coverings.
“Our officers verbally identify themselves, wear vests that say ICE/ERO or Homeland Security, and are flanked by vehicles that also say the name of the department,” the post said.
The Source: Information in this story is from a press conference by multiple Los Angeles County officials, and previous FOX 11 reports.
ImmigrationLos AngelesSanta MonicaCulver CityMontebelloMonterey ParkPasadenaPico RiveraWest HollywoodKaren BassDonald J. TrumpInstastories