Background: ICE agents raiding a Santa Fe Springs swap meet on June 14, 2025 (Onscene.TV/ACLU). Inset: President Donald Trump listens as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci).
The Trump administration has been “tearing up the Constitution” with its immigration operations in Southern California — sending “masked goons” to Los Angeles to terrorize “individuals with brown skin” with ICE raids and seizures that feel like “brazen, midday kidnappings,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU of Southern California filed a federal class action lawsuit Wednesday in the Central District of California on behalf of immigrants who have been snatched up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the months since President Donald Trump has taken office. The Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have been named as defendants, among others in Trump”s administration. The lawsuit accuses ICE and DHS of creating “an illegal detention and deportation dragnet that shows no signs of ceasing” starting on or around June 6, per the complaint.
“One of the clearest patterns that have emerged in the raids in Southern California over the past few weeks has been stops and interrogations based on nothing but broad profiles, including on the basis of apparent race and ethnicity,” the complaint says.
“In a typical encounter, agents and officers approach suddenly and in large numbers,” the ACLU alleges. “Typically dressed in military style or SWAT clothing, heavily armed with weapons displayed, and masked, their vests may display only a generic ‘POLICE’ patch (if they display anything at all).”
The complaint blasts Trump’s immigration operations as a “grossly disproportionate display of force” that is enough to “make any person fear for their safety and feel compelled to comply.” One alleged tactic that is listed involved agents positioning themselves around individuals “aggressively” while they allegedly “bark commands.”
Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, a Pasadena resident who has lived in California for decades, says he was waiting at a bus stop across the street from a Winchell’s Donuts with co-workers, waiting to be picked up for a job, when four cars converged on his location and about half a dozen agents — all with weapons and masks — took him away without identifying themselves.
“To petitioner-plaintiff Vasquez Perdomo, it felt like a kidnapping,” the complaint alleges. “He tried to leave but was swiftly surrounded, grabbed, handcuffed, and put into one of the vehicles.”
Individuals who have tried to avoid “encounters” with agents have been chased and pushed to the ground, “sometimes even beaten,” before being taken away, according to the ACLU.
The rights group says that on top of the unlawful arrests, the government has also “resorted” to keeping individuals at what is supposed to be a short-term processing center and ICE basement holding area in downtown Los Angeles, known as “B-18″ — often for days, the complaint alleges. “In these dungeon-like facilities, conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional,” the filing charges. “The government has also unlawfully deprived those arrested of access to counsel. Under such conditions, some of those arrested are pressured into accepting voluntary departure.”
The Trump administration is fully aware that its actions are unconstitutional, according to the new lawsuit, “but deliberately persists because this system allows it to coerce removals, avoid public accountability, and ultimately — given the limited bed space at longer-term detention facilities in the area — keep arrest numbers high.”
In a statement to ABC News, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the allegations about ICE targeting individuals due to the color of their skin color were “categorically FALSE,” as were the other accusations.
“These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.
Homeland Security did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment Thursday.
Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with ACLU Southern California, released a statement online Wednesday saying everyone should be “guaranteed Constitutional rights” and protection from illegal seizures, regardless of their skin color and immigration status.
“Since June 6th, marauding, masked goons have descended upon Los Angeles, terrorizing our brown communities and tearing up the Constitution in the process,” Tajsar said. “We will hold DHS accountable.”
