Two Los Angeles County park workers were “accosted and questioned” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, a county supervisor said Wednesday, denouncing the action as a case of racial profiling.
According to a statement by Supervisor Hilda Solis, ICE agents “allegedly racially profiled and physically assaulted two Latino Los Angeles County Parks staff at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area — employees wearing county uniforms, driving county vehicles, and clearly identifying themselves as county personnel — and questioned them about their citizenship status. This action is completely unacceptable and violates the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens.”
It was unclear if the workers were detained during the confrontation Wednesday morning.
Representatives for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The allegation came one day after the Board of Supervisors directed its attorneys to draft an ordinance creating “ICE-Free Zones” to prevent county facilities — such as parks — from being used as staging areas or processing centers by federal immigration-enforcement authorities.
The ordinance, which is expected to come before the board for a final vote in the next 30 days, would prevent any county property “from being used for other than county purposes.” It would specify that no county-owned property can bused used “as a staging area, processing location or operations base for unauthorized civil law enforcement actions, including civil immigration enforcement.”
Federal officials quickly denounced the county’s action as illegal and unenforceable.
“Local jurisdictions cannot target and exclude federal agents from public spaces,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles County, wrote on social media. “We will use any public spaces necessary to enforce federal law,” Essayli wrote. “Anyone who attempts to impede our agents will be arrested and charged, including county employees. We have already charged more than 100 individuals for similar conduct. Instead of making these meaningless motions, you should cooperate with federal law enforcement to help us target and remove criminal illegal immigrants.”
In her statement Wednesday assailing the alleged questioning of the county workers at Whittier Narrows, Solis called it another case of the federal government using “fear and intimidation to target our communities of color and working families.”
“Make no mistake: Los Angeles County will continue to protect all our employees, our residents, and our public spaces,” Solis said. “I will continue to act to hold this administration accountable for its complete disregard of our Constitution and our Democracy.”