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A judge in Los Angeles is set to preside over a hearing Thursday that could have major implications for immigration enforcement in California, a state that has become a focal point of President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.
Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, a Biden appointee, will hear arguments about whether to grant emergency restraining orders against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over allegations the agency is violating constitutional rights during its immigration arrests.
The case was initially brought in June as a routine petition from three detainees, but it has ballooned into a weighty lawsuit challenging the way ICE operates.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SUES LOS ANGELES OVER SANCTUARY POLICIES THAT ‘IMPEDE’ ICE OPERATIONS
Immigration rights groups and local governments, including the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver, and West Hollywood, have all intervened in the case and Democrat-led states have filed an amicus brief in support of them.
The plaintiffs alleged in court papers that ICE is “indiscriminately” arresting people with “brown skin” at Home Depots, car washes, farms and more. Authorities made the arrests with no “reasonable suspicion” and sometimes mistakenly apprehended U.S. citizens in the process, all in violation of the Fourth Amendment, attorneys wrote.
The plaintiffs argued the Trump administration gave ICE an unrealistic quota of 3,000 arrests per day, causing officers to feel pressured to blow past legal requirements to achieve those numbers.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is disputing the allegations and denies wrongdoing.
Department of Justice attorneys wrote that immigration arrests, of which there have been nearly 3,000 across California since early June, have been carried out legally.
“Their request that immigration authorities be enjoined from relying on certain factors like occupation and location flies in the face of established law requiring immigration officials to consider the totality of the circumstances, including things like occupation and location,” the attorneys wrote.
The plaintiffs have also asked the judge to expand visitor access to a short-term detention facility in downtown Los Angeles.
The facility became the site of protests and unrest in early June, leading to authorities temporarily abandoning the building. The plaintiffs allege that detainees’ access to lawyers has been hindered, in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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