A New Lawsuit Shows Just How Un-American the ICE Raids in Los Angeles Really Are

Anonymous cops busting folks at random and hustling them off to hidden dungeons? The founders would be so proud.

By Charles P. Pierce
Published: Jul 11, 2025

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what’s goin’ down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin’ gets done and where the dogs are barking and what’s done is done.

We begin in the Occupied City of Los Angeles, where the ACLU has filed its lawsuit against those conducting the raids in that city—aka the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. And the city of Los Angeles as well as other surrounding municipalities are seeking to join the suit. The details should be horrifying to anyone who is not nostalgic for the good old days of Buenos Aires in the 1970s. That it describes events in the United States in the 21st century is almost absurd to the point of laughableness. Almost.

The raids in this District follow a common, systematic pattern. Individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from. If they hesitate, attempt to leave, or do not answer the questions to the satisfaction of the agents, they are detained, sometimes tackled, handcuffed, and/or taken into custody. In these interactions, agents typically have no prior information about the individual and no warrant of any kind. If agents make an arrest, contrary to federal law, they do not make any determination of whether a person poses a risk of flight before a warrant can be obtained. Also contrary to federal law, the agents do not identify themselves or explain why the individual is being arrested.

Further, apparently to accommodate the sharp rise in arrests, the government has resorted to keeping individuals at what is supposed to be a short-term processing center and ICE basement holding area in downtown Los Angeles, known as “B-18,” often for days. In these dungeon-like facilities, conditions are deplorable and unconstitutional. The government has also unlawfully deprived those arrested of access to counsel. Under such conditions, some of those arrested are pressured into accepting voluntary departure.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65381114/aclu-lawsuit-los-angeles-ice-raids/



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