Pasadena Seeks to Join Federal Lawsuit Challenging ICE Immigration Raids

The City of Pasadena has joined Los Angeles County and seven other cities in seeking to intervene in a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that city officials say violate constitutional protections and have cost local governments millions of dollars.

Pasadena, along with the County and the cities of Los Angeles, Culver City, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, filed court documents seeking “intervenor” status in Vasquez Perdomo et al. v. Noem et al., a class-action lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and others, according to court filings.

The lawsuit targets Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other Trump administration officials, alleging they have exceeded their authority and violated the Constitution through warrantless arrests and seizures.

The legal filing describes ICE agents conducting arrests “by armed and masked agents, often without credentials, that use unwarranted force and sometimes result in the detention of U.S. citizens.”

During the press conference at Los Angeles City Hall, Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo said those arrested have included people with no criminal history, and those sitting on a bus bench waiting to go to work, or eating donuts and milk.

“What’s offensive and dangerous about a gentleman washing a car … What’s dangerous about a wet towel as he’s drying off the car?” Gordo said. “There’s actually no room for military style tactics to be used against people who are just trying to work, and prepare themselves to go to work.”

The City said in a statement that in recent weeks, it has experienced an “unprecedented increase in aggressive federal immigration enforcement activity, which has spread fear, confusion, and distress among Pasadena residents, including those who have lived in the City for decades and even among US citizens.”

“The federal government’s unannounced actions have hindered local businesses, as customers and business owners—including U.S. citizens—choose to stay home out of fear of being arbitrarily detained or even arrested,” the statement said.

“Similarly, the Pasadena Police Department has been forced to divert limited local resources to determine whether individuals exiting unmarked vehicles are armed, masked, unidentified federal law enforcement agents or armed, masked, unidentified vigilantes.”

The jurisdictions allege these actions violate the Fourth Amendment by making stops without reasonable suspicion and violate federal law by not seeking arrest warrants.

“For more than seventy years prior to June 6, immigration enforcement in the Los Angeles area consisted of lawful arrests pursuant to warrants naming identified individuals for specified reasons, and created no or minimal impact on public safety and order,” the filing states. “In the month since June 6, it has become clear that Defendants have tossed all of that history, and the basic notion of constitutional rights and adherence to law, into the trash bin.”

The participating cities and County cite significant economic impacts, including lost tax revenue as businesses lose customers, strained public health services as residents avoid clinic visits out of fear, and increased law enforcement costs. Los Angeles County reports $9 million in extra costs to date.

The lawsuit seeks injunctions to end practices violating the Fourth and Tenth amendments and specifically calls for “putting a stop to civil arrests of anyone coming to or from a State courthouse or court proceeding.”

According to the filing, ICE agents stalking courthouses to make arrests have limited State courts’ ability to provide equal access to justice.

The intervenors also seek declaratory relief for “tens of millions in overtime and other unanticipated expenses,” according to the filing.

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto is leading the effort for the cities.

“The Office of County Counsel, with the full support of the Board of Supervisors, is committed to joining the fight to protect the civil rights of all County residents,” Los Angeles County Counsel Dawyn Harrison said in a statement.

The filing compares the community-wide chilling effect of the ICE enforcement actions to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting disruptions to child welfare services as community members mistake social workers for immigration officials.