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LOS ANGELES —
A coalition of civil rights lawyers is suing federal immigration
officials who have illegally failed to release information about
reported racial profiling, intimidation and denial of access to counsel
by workers detained during a huge workplace raid in Los Angeles.
On Tuesday,
the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), the ACLU of Southern
California and the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles filed a federal
lawsuit asserting that the government’s lack of response violates the
Freedom of Information Act. The three groups first requested basic
information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the
Department of Homeland Security nearly seven months ago. The
government has failed to release a single document.
“The
government has squandered an opportunity to allay community concerns
about the manner in which it is conducting immigration raids. If
the government truly believes that it is conducting these raids in a
humane and lawful manner, it should release the documents this lawsuit
seeks,” said NILC staff attorney Karen Tumlin.
On February
7, federal immigration agents raided a Micro Solutions Enterprises
manufacturing plant in Van Nuys. Agents interrogated and detained
well over 200 employees, though they only had arrest warrants for eight,
raising concerns that workers were presumed guilty under the immigration
laws based solely or primarily on their race/ethnicity. The
documents the government has failed to produce would shed light on
agents’ conduct during the raid, including whether they adhered to their
own policies concerning the manner in which workplace raids should be
conducted and whether appropriate screening was done to determine
whether detained individuals should be released to care for minor
children or other dependants.
“The public
has a right to know whether the immigration agents followed the law when
conducting this massive worksite raid. The government’s refusal to
provide the information speaks volumes about its own confidence that it
is complying with federal law and the Constitution,” said ACLU-SC
Director of Immigrants’ Rights and National Security, Ahilan
Arulanantham.
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement has been under scrutiny for its aggressive
tactics in conducting increasingly frequent workplace raids over the
last two years. In some cases, federal agents have separated
mothers from nursing infants. Last month, legislation was
introduced in the U.S. Senate to set guidelines that would ensure
immigration raids are conducted in a humane manner that does not trample
on individuals’ civil rights or presume guilt based on skin color.
“We are
pleased to represent NILC in this case, which stands for the fundamental
principle that those enforcing the law must abide by it,” said Ann
Robinson, an attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, which is serving
as pro bono counsel for NILC in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit,
National Immigration Law Center v. Department of Homeland Security,
sues both the Department of Homeland Security, and its subagency, the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which conducted the
February 7, 2008, raid in Van Nuys. The plaintiffs in lawsuit are:
the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU of Southern California,
and the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles. The National
Immigration Law Center is representing itself along with the law firm of
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which is serving as pro bono counsel for NILC.
The ACLU of Southern California is representing itself and the National
Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles. In addition to Arulanantham,
Robinson, and Tumlin, other counsel in the case include: Linton
Joaquin and Nora Preciado of NILC; Maurice Suh and Katherine Smith
of Gibson Dunn; and Jennifer Pasquarella of the ACLU of Southern
California.
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