Officials with the El Rancho Unified School District in Pico Rivera Thursday are calling for a federal investigation after surveillance footage allegedly showed federal immigration agents urinating near storage containers in broad daylight at Ruben Salazar High School and in an area adjacent to a preschool playground and a public park.
“These actions by DHS and ICE agents raise alarming and pressing questions regarding ICE’s behavior and judgment, as well as concerns about the rights and well-being of those involved including the ERUSD community,” the district’s Board of Education said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “This behavior simply has no room in a K-12 educational setting.”
The incident reportedly occurred on June 17, between 8:54 and 9:04 a.m., when eight to 10 marked and unmarked ICE vehicles parked on the Salazar campus parking lot “without permission, consent, or advance notice.”
Salazar staff members told the agents they did not have permission to park on the campus and asked them to leave, the letter states, and the agents left soon afterward.
“At no time was a legal or legitimate reason offered or provided as to why ICE agents entered and remained on school grounds, nor did they provide any judicial warrant(s),” school officials said..
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents Pico Rivera, joined district officials in asking for the incident to be investigated.
“It’s not enough that they’ve spent weeks violently ambushing people,” Hahn said in a statement. “Now, ICE and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] agents are allegedly entering school campuses, pulling down their pants, and urinating on playgrounds. It’s a slap in the face to our communities — especially to our children. I join the El Rancho Unified School District in demanding a full federal investigation into this incident.”
Homeland Security officials told KTLA5 that the “matter is under investigation.”
Meanwhile, 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 seizure.
“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.
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 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.
A group of Southland residents, workers and advocacy groups are suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, alleging in federal court that the agency is operating a program of “abducting and disappearing” community members using unlawful arrest tactics, then confining detainees in illegal conditions while denying access to attorneys.
The proposed class-action suit, brought Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court by five workers as well as three membership organizations and a legal services provider, alleges DHS has unconstitutionally arrested and detained people in order to meet arbitrary arrest quotas set by the administration of President Donald Trump.
“Since June 6th, marauding, masked goons have descended upon Los Angeles, terrorizing our brown communities and tearing up the Constitution in the process,” Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with plaintiffs’ representative the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said in a statement. “No matter their status or the color of their skin, everyone is guaranteed Constitutional rights to protect them from illegal stops. We will hold DHS accountable.”
Plaintiffs — including the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and Immigrant Defenders Law Center — seek to represent two classes of individuals, those who have been or will be subjected to unlawful practices of suspicionless stops and warrantless arrests without evaluations of flight risk, according to the complaint.
In response, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement Thursday saying claims people are being targeted because of their skin color are “disgusting and categorically false.” She also insisted all immigration enforcement operations are “highly targeted,” not random.
“Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false,” McLaughlin said. “In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members.”
She further stated it is the agency’s “longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.
“This is the best health care than many aliens have received in their entire lives. Meals are certified by dieticians. Ensuring the safety, security and well-being of individuals in our custody is a top priority at ICE.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions stopping further alleged violations of Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.