LA Council Unanimously Votes for Masked ICE Agents to Identify Themselves During Raids

In response to aggressive and widespread federal immigration raids in Los Angeles, the City Council Tuesday called for a policy that would require L.A. police to verify the identity of masked federal agents when requested by an individual targeted in an enforcement action.

In a 13-0 vote, the City Council approved a motion introduced on July 1 by Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez and Councilman Bob Blumenfield calling for such a policy. Council members also requested an analysis and recommendations related to LAPD’s “duty to intervene” — legal and ethics standards for law enforcement that require officers to act when they witness another officer using unlawful force or violating a citizen’s rights — during interactions involving federal agencies.

Council members Adrin Nazarian and Blumenfield were absent during the vote.

“No one should be dragged out of a truck stopped on the street or confronted in public by someone claiming to be law enforcement and refusing to prove it, and yet, for the past 10 weeks this has been the reality for too many of our constituents,” Hernandez said.

Since June 6, masked federal agents have arrested immigrants at worksites, courts, and places of worship, among other locations. During some ICE raids, federal agents carry identification that mark them as “police” or members of federal agencies, while in other cases plainclothes federal officers arrest immigrants and refuse to identify themselves.

In other efforts to address ICE raids, council members on Tuesday approved two other motions intended to bring transparency to ICE activities and enhance city protocols to monitor and respond to such operations.

Council members instructed the City Attorney’s Office to draft a formal Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and ICE for information on enforcement activity since Jan. 1.

The council is asking for details on ICE operations, identities of other entities assisting ICE or CBP, the total number of arrests of citizens and immigrants, a list of vendors and organizations with ICE contracts, and a list of all temporary holding facilities, field offices or mobile processing centers within the city’s jurisdiction.

The City Council also asked the Chief Legislative Analyst to report on the city’s current protocols to monitor and respond to federal immigration activity.

Additionally, the council approved resolutions in support of proposed state laws intended to assist immigrants, such as Senate Bill 627, also known as the No Secret Police Act, authored by Sen. Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco, as well as Senate Bill 48, which aims to amend the state Education Code to prohibit ICE agents access to nonpublic areas of a school site, and protect student data.

“Every Angeleno deserves to feel safe in their own city, and as a council, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to keep that promise,” Hernandez said.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who also introduced a resolution that was approved Tuesday, called for comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.

“For too long, millions of people, including Dreamers, TPS holders, Green Card veterans that have served this country in multiple battles, our essential workers have lived with great uncertainty despite their vital contributions to communities and our economy. Families should not have to live in fear and our cities like L.A. should not be forced to respond piecemeal for federal failures,” Rodriguez said.

Prior to the votes, immigrant-rights leaders joined council members to discuss the latest developments related to ICE raids.

“There is an indiscriminate dragnet unleashed by the federal government upon immigrant and Latino communities in Los Angeles, and it is violating individual civil and constitutional rights, irrespective of immigration status, and endangering public safety,” Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said.

CHIRLA oversees the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network, a group consisting of more than 30 organizations and labor unions with more than 1,300 volunteers who have documented ICE actions.

The network has reported 1,916 ICE sightings throughout L.A. and 1,078 individuals have reported ICE agents in their communities, according to Salas. The network has documented 667 operations in which immigrants and other individuals were arrested by federal agents.

Salas said DHS reported more than 4,200 individuals have been detained in ICE raids.

DHS has repeatedly defended the work of ICE agents, denying allegations that operations are carried out randomly.

“Every single one of our ICE and Border Patrol operations is built on information, on investigative work,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week during an appearance on the Fox News Channel when asked about a downtown Los Angeles raid conducted outside a building where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference.

Noem said ICE agents conduct operations at specific locations “because of who they think could be in that area and what they have for information that shows there are illegal criminals there. Remember we’re focusing on the worst of the worst.”

In July, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from stopping individuals in violation of the Fourth Amendment and requiring the government to provide detained individuals with access to counsel.

The federal government appealed the ruling, but a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put a stay on the ruling. The federal government has appealed the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to Salas, there was a sharp decrease in ICE raids following the TRO.

“What we have observed now is that these raids have become even more violent, fast and furious, and has continued with the same mode of operation as before,” Salas said. “They continue mostly in the early hours of the day. This randomness is naturally sowing fear and preventing people from carrying on their daily routines.”

She called on the city to declare a state of emergency and to take decisive action with the following:

— increase funding to Represent LA, the city’s program that provides legal services for court proceedings for immigrants facing deportation;

— approve enhanced eviction protection and cap rent increases by 3%; and

— ensure LAPD upholds constitutional rights by protecting Angelenos when exercising those rights.

“We need you to continue to speak up and to continue to support our efforts to protect our communities,” Salas said.