LA Officials Assess Remedies for ‘Unlawful’ Immigration Enforcement

City and county officials in Los Angeles are taking action to combat the tactics of U.S. immigration agents amid ongoing enforcement raids in the Southland.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday directed its attorneys to explore legal remedies to prevent so-called “unconstitutional” federal immigration enforcement.

According to a motion introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath, since June 6, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel have intensified immigration raids in the county, detaining people on streets, at shopping sites, parking lots and churches, and have even attempted to enter schools.

“Over the last few weeks, federal agents, often in unmarked vehicles, without visible badges, in regular street clothes and masked faces, have detained people indiscriminately, at times even taking U.S. citizens,” the motion stated. “This includes numerous reported instances of individuals questioned and detained without a judicial warrant and without reasonable suspicion.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, Solis stressed that the Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable search and seizures.

“When law enforcement officers stop, question, or detain someone without reasonable suspicion, or when they make an arrest without probable cause, they are indeed violating that person’s constitutional and civil rights,” Solis stated.

She cited data gathered by UC Berkeley Law that between June 1 and 10, ICE data showed 722 arrests in Los Angeles, while a Los Angeles Times analysis found that 69% of those individuals had no criminal conviction, and 58% were never charged with a crime. The analysis also found the arrests were mostly men, with a majority from Latin America.

Solis also cited data from the DHS that between June 6 and 22, more than 1,600 individuals were detained or deported in Southern California.

Horvath said everyone is entitled to due process and deserves to have their civil rights upheld.

“Democracy is not a given — we must fight to continue the best of our constitutional traditions,” Horvath said. “We cannot sit on the sideline as the rights of our communities are violated. We must do everything in our power to protect our residents and fight back.”

Board Chair Supervisor Kathryn Barger said federal efforts were also undermining local law enforcement, adding to public fear.

The board directed county attorneys to explore legal remedies to prevent “unconstitutional or unlawful” immigration enforcement activities, including “unlawfully stopping, questioning or detaining individuals without reasonable suspicion, or arresting individuals without probable cause or a valid warrant.”

Approving a related motion by Supervisors Solis and Janice Hahn, the board on Tuesday also directed the Department of Youth Development, Public Defender, and Alternate Public Defender to develop a “Know Your Rights” campaign to educate youth participating in civil unrest.

As a part of the campaign, the board called for the development of educational materials and workshops tailored for youth who are participating in protests, walkouts, demonstrations, and other forms of civic engagement.

Also Tuesday, two members of the Los Angeles City Council called on the Los Angeles Police Department to enact new policies requiring officers to verify the identities of anyone claiming to be law enforcement and to increase penalties for impersonating public safety personnel.

City Council members Eunisses Hernandez and Bob Blumenfield introduced two motions Tuesday to bring transparency to federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles. The motions were referred to the Civil Rights, Equity, Immigration, Aging and Disability Committee for consideration.

“Angelenos are overwhelmed with fear and confusion right now, especially immigrant and mixed-status families,” Hernandez said in a statement.

“There are plainclothes individuals in unmarked vehicles taking community members off the street without presenting warrants and while refusing to identify themselves — even to other law enforcement officers like the LAPD. There must be accountability and transparency to keep our communities safe.”

The two council members seek to codify and enhance LAPD’s Policy Notice 11.2, which outlines procedures for responding to federal immigration enforcement and proposes turning these protocols into law via a city ordinance, which would require LAPD officers to verify the identification of individuals claiming to be a law enforcement officer — including those from federal agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The motion also directs the City Attorney’s Office, with support from the volunteer Board of Police Commissioners that oversees LAPD, to assist with the effort.

The second motion would direct the city attorney to increase penalties for impersonating public safety officers and reaffirm residents’ rights to request and receive proof of identity and legal authority during any enforcement or detention.

Hernandez told City News Service her team was inspired by Huntington Park, where Mayor Arturo Flores on June 21 condemned what he called “masked abductions” amid immigration raids across Los Angeles County and directed police to intervene in unlawful or unauthorized operations.

The council and Board of Supervisors are almost exclusively made up of Democrats, with John Lee, an independent, the only non-Democrat on the 15- member City Council, while Republican Kathryn Barger is the only non-Democrat among the five supervisors.

On Wednesday morning, the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations are expected to weigh in, holding a news conference along with relatives of people recently detained in federal immigration enforcement operations.

The Trump administration’s enforcement of immigration laws in Los Angeles has drawn the ire of local Democrats, led by Mayor Karen Bass. One day after the administration sued the city of Los Angeles, challenging the constitutionality of its “sanctuary city” policies, Bass on Tuesday called the legal action part of an “all-out assault against Los Angeles” by the federal government.

“I will always protect Angelenos against the unwarranted and cruel actions of this administration,” Bass said during a downtown news conference.

Bass said the lawsuit filed Monday is an “attempt to overturn the will of the city, calling for a halt to long-standing policy to protect immigrant Angelenos.”

“We will defend our ordinance and continue to defend policies that reflect the long-standing values of our city,” Bass said.

In its federal lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that Los Angeles’ sanctuary-city policies violate the Constitution by  “thwarting” immigration enforcement.

The lawsuit contends that the sanctuary laws — in which local law enforcement officials refuse to assist immigration enforcement efforts — are illegal, and expressly designed to “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 Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office issued a statement Monday saying, “The city of Los Angeles ordinance limiting the use of city resources for federal immigration enforcement was carefully drafted and fully complies with federal law and constitutional principles.

“The Constitution and federal law both allow the federal government to regulate immigration, but the reserved power of the state and the people including under the Tenth Amendment ensures our ability to defend the constitutionality of our ordinances and policies.”

The federal government’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles seeks to have Los Angeles’ policies declared invalid based on the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which “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 suit states.

The city’s sanctuary policies generally prohibit local resources — most notably police officers — from taking part in federal immigration enforcement efforts. The policies generally mirror state law that bar local cooperation with federal authorities except in cases involving serious or violent crimes.

Numerous other cities have also adopted sanctuary policies, including Pasadena, Long Beach, Santa Ana and West Hollywood.