Five workers and four advocacy organizations filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for arresting immigrants without warrants, confining them in inhumane conditions, and denying them access to their lawyers.

The plaintiff organizations, the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, the United Farm Workers (UFW), the The Coalition for Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the Immigrant Defenders Law Center allege that the arbitrary arrests are part of a strategy to meet quotas set by the Trump administration.

“Since June 6, masked thugs have invaded Los Angeles, terrorizing our communities of color and shredding the Constitution,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, during a press conference outside a car wash in Torrance, in southern Los Angeles County, where a raid took place last month.

Tajsar, who represents the plaintiffs, said that regardless of immigration status or skin color, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect themselves from unlawful detentions.

“We will hold DHS accountable.”

The plaintiffs seek to represent individuals who have been or will be subjected to warrantless arrests and without a flight risk assessment.

In the complaint, they ask the court to certify the case as a class action and issue injunctive and permanent injunctions to stop future violations of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

“These raids have targeted the most vulnerable members of our workforce, the essential workers who are the backbone of our local economy,” said Armando Gudino, executive director of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network.

“We cannot allow racial profiling, warrantless arrests, and the denial of due process to become the norm in our communities.”

Since June 6,The federal government has deployed immigration agents to the streets, workplaces, and neighborhoods of Los Angeles and surrounding counties, creating a state of siege and an immigration crackdown in the region.

The lawsuit says one of the clearest patterns to emerge from the Southern California raids has been detentions and interrogations based on apparent race and ethnicity.

“Members of the Southern California community have been transported and disappeared into extremely overcrowded, dungeon-like facilities without food, medical care, basic hygiene, or beds,” said Mark Rosenbaum, senior special counsel for strategic litigation at Public Counsel, who is representing the plaintiffs.

“The goal of this draconian crackdown is to gut fundamental due process rights and hide from the public the horrific ways ICE and Border Patrol agents treat citizens and residents who have been stigmatized by our government as violent criminals simply because of the color of their skin.”

He noted that the lawsuit seeks, in part, to end that big lie.

Agents have been arresting immigrants en masse and taking them to the basement of the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, commonly known as “B-18,” which lacks beds, showers, and medical facilities.

According to the lawsuit, the facilities were designed to temporarily house a small number of people so they could be processed and released, or processed and transferred to a long-term detention center.

“We have heard testimony from over 100 families of individuals taken to B-18 and other detention centers that their loved ones are being held in overcrowded, cold, and inhumane conditions,” said Angelica Salas, leader of CHIRLA.

“They are held in small, windowless rooms with dozens or more other detainees, in extremely close quarters, while being verbally humiliated and pressured to sign documents they do not understand,” she noted.

She concluded: “Angelenos held in these conditions are routinely deprived of food, water, clean clothing, bathrooms, and access to information and counseling, which can have serious consequences for their chances of being reunited with their families.”

The lawsuit establishes that ongoing raids have resulted in the disappearance of more than 1,500 people.

It details how federal agents routinely refuse to identify themselves or to say which agency they belong to when asked, using anonymity as a tactic to cover up illegality.

“The raids in the Los Angeles metro area have not been limited to the urban center; we have also seen horrific cases of Border Patrol agents chasing farmworkers in the fields of Ventura County,” said United Farm Workers (UFW) President Teresa Romero.

“The wife of a UFW member was among those unjustly detained.”

She confided that right now the same workers who feed America are going to work in a panic; and their American-born children are afraid of not knowing if their parents will ever come home.

“Farmworkers deserve better.”

She added that they have seen these unconstitutional and un-American tactics before, with Border Patrol targeting random farmworkers and anyone with brown skin in Kern County, as during the massive January raid.

“We sued then and we’re suing now.”

The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, Public Counsel, Law Offices of Stacy Tolchin, UC Irvine School of Law Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic, National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the ACLU Foundations of Northern California and San Diego and Imperial Counties, Hecker Fink LLP, Martinez Aguilasocho Law Inc, CHIRLA, and the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

“The federal government is waging a campaign of terror in Southern California, sequestering community members from the streets and confining them in deplorable conditions, away from their loved ones, while denying them access to legal assistance,” said Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

Arrested at ICE Appointment

Fabián, owner of a construction business in Orange County, denounced the arrest of his 28-year-old wife, Valeria, of Colombian origin.

“We are immigrants who came to contribute to this country.”

He said that on June 23, his wife showed up punctually for her appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We respected the law, we did everything correctly, but that day, the system betrayed us. Without explanation or humanity, they immediately detained her. They first transferred her to the Santa Ana Detention Center where they pressed her against a wall and handcuffed her as if she were a dangerous criminal who was “resisting.”

He said the real ordeal began when they took her to the Los Angeles Detention Center known as B-18.

“They tightened the handcuffs so tightly that they left marks on her skin, and they ripped off her earrings instead of taking them off. That first night she had nowhere to lie down. She slept standing up, and they gave her a 16-ounce juice box, cookies, and cheesy popcorn. That was lunch, breakfast, and dinner all in one day,” he said, his voice breaking as he tried to control his tears.

“There are no showers, the bathrooms are blocked, and that’s how they have to remain, amidst pain and despair. The environment is oppressive and traumatic. Those who refuse to sign their deportation contract are threatened with imprisonment for six months or even a year. They manipulate them, they break them inside. They take away all hope.”

He said that on Thursday, June 26, his wife had an infection in her stomach and took her to an emergency room. “So far, I don’t know anything about her. I call. They don’t give me a reason. I don’t know where she is.”

Fabián asked the lawyers to help them, and to stop seeing them as a product.

“I want to speak for those who cannot speak. I know there are many mothers who have their babies taken away from them, there are many fathers who are separated from their families. This country has been built by immigrant hands, and it will continue to be that way, and I want the leaders to do something. I want action.”

He said they are discriminated against because of their color and accent. “They say this is a country of freedoms. I don’t see freedom now. I see fear. I don’t see anyone when I go out on the street, and I don’t see people selling. We’re all afraid.”

María’s husband, Javier, a car washer, was arrested on June 17.

“I told him not to go to work because it was his day off, but he insisted on going and they arrested him when they raided the car wash business where he works. I found out when my niece saw a video of the arrests on TikTok.”

She said her husband’s arrest has broken their hearts.

“We went to visit him on Monday, and we asked him to hang in there, because we’re working to get him out.”

Pleading for Answers

Emily, spoke on behalf of your uncle who was detained by ICE on June 22 while working at the Bubble Bath Hand Car Wash in Torrance.

“When ICE agents came in, they chased him, slammed him against the screen, and took him away without explanation. Our family has been devastated ever since.”

She revealed that they are overwhelmed with fear, confusion, and grief.

“We have called every available ICE number, and to this day we have no details or updates on the case. We call every day, but we only get vague answers.”

They even went in person to the ICE offices in Los Angeles, where they were told he wasn't there or in the system, but an hour later, his uncle called to tell them he was there.

“Why don't they tell us the truth? Why are they deceiving us? It feels like we don't matter, that our voices aren't heard. We've called the offices of Congressmen Maxine Water and Ted Lieu, and Governor Newsom, and they tell us it's a federal matter. Even at the El Salvador Consulate, they redirected us somewhere else.”

So, faced with a lack of answers, he asked who is holding ICE accountable.

“My uncle is not a criminal. He's a hardworking man. A loving father who sits in a detention center, probably scared and alone, while we are outside begging for answers.

“We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for the truth, dignity, and the basic right to help a loved one.” We need help! We need action! We need answers before another family suffers like us!