Thirteen additional cities joined a coalition of municipalities being led by the city and county of Los Angeles against the federal government for allegedly racially profiling and engaging in unconstitutional stops during immigration raids across Southern California, L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced Friday.
During a news conference at City Hall, Feldstein Soto said her office filed an amended complaint adding the cities of Pasadena, Santa Monica, Culver City, Pico Rivera, Montebello, Monterey Park and West Hollywood to their motion to intervene in the case of Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem.
The lawsuit was filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel and other immigration and civil rights attorneys. Plaintiffs alleged ICE and Customs and Border Protection engaged in "unconstitutional and unlawful stops, roundups and raids without reasonable suspicion or probable cause."
L.A. County and the city alongside a coalition of regional municipalities such as Long Beach, Pomona, South Gate, Lynwood, Huntington Park, Paramount, Bell Gardens, Beverly Hills, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Oxnard quickly filed a complaint and joined plaintiffs.
"Since these illegal raids started in L.A. on June 6, I have maintained that every person in the United States, regardless of immigration status, is entitled to constitutional protection from the types of enforcement activities we have seen," Feldstein Soto said. "We will always stand up to protect our communities and to uphold the rule of law."
Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse emphasized that ICE raids have caused widespread disruption across Santa Barbara County and neighboring communities.
"These actions have discouraged community participation, reduced access to essential services and negatively impacted the local economy," Rowse said. "The city is particularly troubled by the use of masked law enforcement officers, which has raised concerns about false detainment by impersonators and undermined public trust."
"While the city supports the enforcement of established laws, it strongly objects to the methods being used and is filing a petition to intervene in Vasquez Perdomo et al. v. Noem et al., joining other jurisdictions in defending constitutionally protected rights and ensuring accountability in enforcement practices," Rowse added.
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A Los Angeles federal court previously issued a temporary restraining order against the federal government to refrain from conducting so-called "roving raids."
The roving raids targeting car washes, parking lots where day laborers gather and garment factories disrupted immigrant communities throughout the region for weeks in June and July, causing widespread fear.
Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the federal government's request to reverse the order prohibiting federal agencies -- including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security -- from continuing what U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong determined were unlawful actions in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.
On Thursday, the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the court order barring federal agents from making immigration arrests.
"This case involves a district-court injunction that threatens to upend immigration officials' ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop of suspected illegal aliens," according to the Justice Department's application to the Supreme Court to stay the lower court order.
The high court will decide whether to grant emergency relief pending further litigation.
According to Feldstein Soto's office, the lawsuit is set for a hearing on a preliminary injunction scheduled on Sept. 24. If granted, the preliminary injunction could extend the conditions of the temporary restraining order as the case progresses.
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