Amid ICE arrests, LA County leaders to consider suing the federal government over ‘enforcement tactics’

Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis will try to blunt the impact of ICE raids in Los Angeles County by introducing two motions on Tuesday, July 1.

The first motion calls for legal action against the Trump Administration’s tactics, which have included men not wearing uniforms or badges, jumping out of unmarked cars and forcefully dragging people off the streets.

These arrests have been questioned by authorities in many cities and some, including Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo and state Sen. Sasha Renee Perez, D-Pasadena, suggesting that many are being carried out by “vigilantes” or bounty hunters. A Perez bill requires all to show badges and announce their agency.

Solis wants the county to sue the federal government and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency for what she called “unprecedented and unconstitutional enforcement tactics” and “racial profiling.” She claims these arrests are being done without probable causes and without valid warrants.

The Board’s consideration of Solis’ motion will come after the Trump administration on Monday sued the city of Los Angeles, accusing it of violating federal law with its “sanctuary city” policies by discriminating against immigration authorities and restricting cooperation granted to other law enforcement agencies.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, claims sanctuary laws are illegal and “obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe.”

The filing asks the court to declare Los Angeles’ policies invalid under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which the suit says “prohibits the city and its officials from obstructing the federal government’s ability to enforce laws that Congress has enacted or to take actions entrusted to it by the Constitution.”

The second motion at the County level would launch a countywide initiative to provide residents who may be the targets of ICE immigration raids with a “Know Your Rights” education.

Included in recent statements by the supervisor, who once was U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Barack Obama, was outraged over the arrest of a man in unincorporated Valinda, near the city of La Puente, on Saturday, June 28. Videos by witnesses show the man bleeding while being detained, according to Solis.

“This incident raises serious concerns about the conduct and legality of these actions, and demonstrates a violation of constitutional rights and due process,” Solis said.

The motions is in response to sweeping raids in Los Angeles County, and many suburbs resulting in hundreds of people being detained since Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement raids that began on June 6.

Enforcement activity has led to dozens of workers detained by ICE officers in a series of raids that in L.A.’s fashion district and at Home Depots and other store parking lots in Southern California, including in the cities of Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Pico Rivera, Irvine, Downey, Huntington Park and Pasadena. Many are done by men wearing masks, driving unmarked cars and refusing to identify themselves, even to local police departments.

Solis’s motions will be brought before the five-member Board of Supervisors at their regular meeting, starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, (Board Hearing Room – 381-B), 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.