Multiple immigration sweeps reported across Los Angeles, with a tense standoff/protest downtown; SEIU union leader arrested

[rjs330]

ICE detention of student was ‘unconstitutional racial profiling,’ family alleges in claim​

• A $1-million damage claim targets the Trump administration for the detention of a 15-year-old U.S. citizen just outside of Arleta High School in Los Angeles.
• Federal authorities call the incident a case of mistaken identity.

Officials added: “This is a case study of billboard law firms trying to turn family resemblance into racial animus to collect clicks, clout, and cash.”

About seven minutes after the confrontation began, officers were persuaded they had detained the wrong person.

An officer then joked, to mother and son, that the boy would have an exciting experience to tell his friends about.

“There’s nothing exciting about getting guns pointed at you, especially when you’re a 15-year-old,” [Mom] Mejia said.

Immigration agents attempted to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools in April, but the principals turned them away. The Arleta High incident renewed concerns because it happened on the campus perimeter. Immigration agents also recently arrested — on Aug. 8 — an 18-year-old Reseda High senior as he was walking the family dog near their Van Nuys home.

Big whoop. LE makes mistakes all the time across rhe country regarding mistaken identity.

This lasted a whole 7 minutes. 7 minutes? Thats nothing. Laws are clear rhat when you stop someone it shouldn't last longer than necessary. 7 minutes is about as short of time as you can get from start to finish.

 

[essentialsaltes]

An L.A. high school senior was walking his dog. Then immigration agents grabbed him​

Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was walking his family’s dog in Van Nuys on a recent morning when he was taken into custody by federal immigration officials, according to authorities and published reports.

L.A. teen is moved to ICE detention center out of state without parents’ knowledge​

This week, his family was caught off-guard once again when they learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had transferred him to Arizona without notifying any relatives, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), which spoke to his family and reviewed ICE detention records.

Guerrero-Cruz was moved out of the Adelanto Detention Facility in San Bernardino County late Monday night and taken to a holding facility in Arizona in the middle of the desert, according to the congresswoman’s office.

“Benjamin and his family deserve answers behind ICE’s inconsistent and chaotic decision-making process, including why Benjamin was initially transferred to Arizona, why he was slated to be transferred to Louisiana afterward, and why his family wasn’t notified of his whereabouts by ICE throughout this process,” Rivas said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Rivas introduced a bill that would require ICE to notify an immediate family member of a detainee within 24 hours of a detainee’s transfer. Currently, ICE is required to notify a family member only in the case of a detainee’s death.

 

[rjs330]

L.A. teen is moved to ICE detention center out of state without parents’ knowledge​

This week, his family was caught off-guard once again when they learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had transferred him to Arizona without notifying any relatives, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), which spoke to his family and reviewed ICE detention records.

Guerrero-Cruz was moved out of the Adelanto Detention Facility in San Bernardino County late Monday night and taken to a holding facility in Arizona in the middle of the desert, according to the congresswoman’s office.

“Benjamin and his family deserve answers behind ICE’s inconsistent and chaotic decision-making process, including why Benjamin was initially transferred to Arizona, why he was slated to be transferred to Louisiana afterward, and why his family wasn’t notified of his whereabouts by ICE throughout this process,” Rivas said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Rivas introduced a bill that would require ICE to notify an immediate family member of a detainee within 24 hours of a detainee’s transfer. Currently, ICE is required to notify a family member only in the case of a detainee’s death.

Sounds like ICE is acting legally. We'll see if the law passes. I honeatly dont think it would be a terrible change.

 

[Pommer]

Big whoop. LE makes mistakes all the time across rhe country regarding mistaken identity.

This lasted a whole 7 minutes. 7 minutes? Thats nothing. Laws are clear rhat when you stop someone it shouldn't last longer than necessary. 7 minutes is about as short of time as you can get from start to finish.

Maybe that’s the point of the suit?
Make the government pay for “mistakes” and after a few million here and a few million there people will be advised to “do it legally”.

 

[BPPLEE]

Sounds like ICE is acting legally. We'll see if the law passes. I honeatly dont think it would be a terrible change.

Won't it be kind of hard to track down family members of every illegal immigrant who is transferred to another facility?

 

[Bradskii]

Won't it be kind of hard to track down family members of every illegal immigrant who is transferred to another facility?

'We're transferring you. Is there anyone we need to contact to let them know where you're going to be?'

 

[BPPLEE]

'We're transferring you. Is there anyone we need to contact to let them know where you're going to be?'

Then the law needs to specify that an attempt must be made to contact a family member . For some the answer is going to be no

 

[Bradskii]

Then the law needs to specify that an attempt must be made to contact a family member .

Now that's hardly an inconvenience, is it. It strikes me as being a civilised way of treating people.

 

[rjs330]

Maybe that’s the point of the suit?
Make the government pay for “mistakes” and after a few million here and a few million there people will be advised to “do it legally”.

Thats unrealistic, LE does and should have the right to stop people they believe is the person they are looking for. If the stop reveals they aren't the person then they go on their way. Do you somehow believe that cops shouldn't have the right to stop someone unless they are 100% positive that the person is the right one? What if the cop is 100% positive and is still wrong? The government should them pay up?

Thats nuts.

 

[essentialsaltes]

The White House moved Tuesday to keep interim U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli in power as Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor, marking the Trump administration’s latest maneuver to defy norms and keep controversial appointees in positions across the country.

Public defender’s office seeks removal of Trump’s top federal prosecutor in L.A.​

In their motion, Flynn and Sarsour pointed out that the Trump administration has used similar strategies to keep political allies in power in U.S. attorney’s offices in New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico and the Northern District of New York. But legal challenges are mounting. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Alina Habba has been illegally occupying her seat in New Jersey since early July, although that order was put on hold pending appeal.

 

[essentialsaltes]

New footage challenges federal agents' shooting at San Bernardino family truck, attorneys say

Family says new video disputes Department of Homeland Security account​

The footage captured by surveillance cameras outside the vehicle shows the driver, Francisco Longoria, pulling away as armed individuals surrounded his truck.

San Bernardino man arrested after he protested immigration officer shooting at his truck

• Francisco Longoria’s lawyers say more than a dozen armed federal agents arrived at their client’s home early Thursday with an armored personnel carrier.
• Federal officials say Longoria injured immigration officers and tried to run some over with his truck on Aug. 16, a claim his lawyers reject.

“These are the type of tactics reserved for dangerous criminals such as violent gang members, drug lords and terrorists,” the attorneys said. “It was clearly intended to intimidate and punish Mr. Longoria and his family for daring to speak out about their attempted murder by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and CBP agents on August 16th.”

Longoria is facing a charge of assault on a federal officer with a deadly/dangerous weapon.

At the initial court appearance, the judge questioned the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, Cory Burleson, about the government’s claim that it was conducting an “immigration check,” a term he couldn’t clarify when asked by the court, according to Longoria’s attorneys.

Burleson also claimed Longoria was stopped because of a traffic violation, but couldn’t identify the violation, his attorneys said. When the judge asked Burleson to identify the alleged injuries of the officers, Burleson said he was “not aware of any injuries,” Longoria’s attorneys said.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump’s military deployment in Los Angeles cost $120 million, Newsom says​

• Estimated costs included $71 million for food and other basic necessities, $37 million in payroll, $4 million in logistic supplies, $3.5 million in travel and $1.5 million in demobilization costs.
• This week, a federal judge in San Francisco barred troops from aiding in immigration arrests in a scathing opinion that amounted to a major win for California and other states critical of the Trump administration’s deployments.

Newsom’s office said the newly revealed price tag was tallied from estimates provided by the California National Guard about costs incurred since June, when Trump sent more than 4,200 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles. [300 NG remain.]

Newsom filed a public records request to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in August asking for total expenses connected to the deployment of troops in Los Angeles. In that request, which is still pending, Newsom said most troops were “passing the days sitting idly without a clear mission, direction, or a timeline for returning to their communities.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking federal agents from using racial profiling to carry out random immigration arrests across the region, officials said.​

ACLU argues Border Patrol broke court order with high-profile Sacramento raid​

• ACLU and United Farm Workers filed a motion alleging Border Patrol violated court orders during raids targeting Latino workers.
• Border Patrol’s arrest reports contained identical boilerplate language and factual errors, undermining required documentation of reasonable suspicion for stops, critics say.

In April, a federal district court judge ruled that the Border Patrol likely violated the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure during a January operation in Kern County called “Operation Return to Sender,” in which agents swarmed a Home Depot and Latino market, among other areas frequented by laborers. The judge ordered the Border Patrol, led by El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, to stop the raids in California’s Eastern District, which covers much of the state’s Central Valley, including Sacramento.

[Bovino took his circus to Los Angeles, where again a court ordered him to stop. Then he went back to Sacramento and allegedly did it some more. Bovino] announced Tuesday on his social media account that the L.A. crackdown would be expanding to other cities across the country.

As part of the original preliminary injunction, Border Patrol agents were required to provide the ACLU with documentation on their specific and individual reasonable suspicion for each warrantless stop.

The plaintiffs allege agents fabricated and copied and pasted boilerplate language for those reports from the raid at the Home Depot in south Sacramento.

A handful of the reports justified the warrantless arrests by stating: “Sacramento, California has been identified as a city where many illegal aliens are known to stay, live and work without having any legal documentation in the United States.” Others noted that California is a sanctuary state.

“(Person) was located in California, which is a sanctuary state. Sanctuary states shield the identity of illegal aliens from immigration officials,” the arrest reports noted. The plaintiffs argue that someone being in a sanctuary state is not enough cause to give an agent reasonable suspicion that they are in the country illegally.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Stopping people for being brown or speaking Spanish is back on the menu (at least temporarily).

The Supreme Court lifted a restraining order granted by a judge and cleared the way for federal agents to carry out sweeping immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.

The restraining order granted July 11 by U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles [had until now] barred agents from using certain tactics during the raids, such as stopping people based solely on race, language, job or location.

"I think the Supreme Court's decision gives the ability and the authority for ICE agents to go to car washes and construction sites and look at the color of people's skin or their ethnicity, whether or not they're speaking Spanish or speaking in an accent, and to at least have a conversaTion about that person's immigration status," said Prof. Jessica A. Levinson, of Loyola Marymount University.

A lawsuit over the tactics filed by immigrant advocacy groups will now unfold in the courts system. The plaintiffs included U.S. citizens swept up in immigration stops.

A federal district court will hear arguments Sept. 24 on whether to issue a preliminary injunction in the case, according to the ACLU.

Gov. Gavin Newsom referred to deputy White House chief of staff [Stephen Miller] in his statement criticizing the ruling.

"Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles," Newsome said. "This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws — it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses. Trump's private police force now has a green light to come after your family — and every person is now a target — but we will continue fighting these abhorrent attacks on Californians."

 

[Pommer]

Stopping people for being brown or speaking Spanish is back on the menu (at least temporarily).

The Supreme Court lifted a restraining order granted by a judge and cleared the way for federal agents to carry out sweeping immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.

The restraining order granted July 11 by U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles [had until now] barred agents from using certain tactics during the raids, such as stopping people based solely on race, language, job or location.

"I think the Supreme Court's decision gives the ability and the authority for ICE agents to go to car washes and construction sites and look at the color of people's skin or their ethnicity, whether or not they're speaking Spanish or speaking in an accent, and to at least have a conversaTion about that person's immigration status," said Prof. Jessica A. Levinson, of Loyola Marymount University.

A lawsuit over the tactics filed by immigrant advocacy groups will now unfold in the courts system. The plaintiffs included U.S. citizens swept up in immigration stops.

A federal district court will hear arguments Sept. 24 on whether to issue a preliminary injunction in the case, according to the ACLU.

Gov. Gavin Newsom referred to deputy White House chief of staff [Stephen Miller] in his statement criticizing the ruling.

"Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles," Newsome said. "This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws — it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses. Trump's private police force now has a green light to come after your family — and every person is now a target — but we will continue fighting these abhorrent attacks on Californians."

Person speaking a foreign language≠ “probable-cause”, yet it’s moot point if agents are allowed to converse with those they suspect.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Stopping people for being brown...

Stinton, who is from Lisburn, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland, told the Telegraph that he was “kidnapped” off a Florida street and held in inhuman conditions for around a month before before being deported back to the UK. Stinton told the paper that he had all the correct paperwork to be in the United States, legally paid his U.S. taxes, and that federal agents told him, “You look Mexican,” while arresting him.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump’s top federal prosecutor in L.A. struggles to secure indictments in protest cases​

The grand jury had just refused to indict someone accused of attacking federal law enforcement officers
The officer said he and other agents started chasing the man, but were “stopped by two other males,” later identified as [Blanco's client] Mojica and Bryan Ramos-Brito. Blanco said she obtained social media videos showing no such chase took place and presented them at Mojica’s first court appearance. The charges were soon dropped.

Now Ramos-Brito has been acquitted by a jury of misdemeanor assault (which I assume means the grand jury also no billed his case like the one above). None of the numerous videos of the incident showed him striking the officer.

This case is the first to go to trial.

Protester found not guilty of assault despite top Border Patrol official’s testimony​

U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino — the brash agent who led a phalanx of military personnel into MacArthur Park this summer — was called as a witness Wednesday in a federal misdemeanor assault case against Brayan Ramos-Brito, who was accused of striking a federal agent.

Bovino, who flew in to testify from Chicago, the latest city targeted for an immigration enforcement surge, said he witnessed the alleged assault committed by Ramos-Brito in Paramount on June 7.

The jury came back with the acquittal after a little over an hour of deliberations.

The case could prove to be an ominous bellwether for embattled acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, who has struggled to win indictments against those charged with committing crimes while protesting aggressive immigration enforcement in Southern California.

Prosecutors originally brought a felony charge against Ramos-Brito, which was reduced to a misdemeanor.

During the two-day trial, a number of videos were displayed showing a Border Patrol agent shove Ramos-Brito, but none clearly illustrated his alleged attack on the agent.

Outfitted in his green Border Patrol uniform, Bovino was the lone Border Patrol agent to testify that he witnessed Ramos-Brito drag his arm back and strike an agent with an open palm in the chest. Aside from [the alleged victim] Morales, three other agents took the stand Tuesday, but none said they saw Ramos-Brito hit Morales.

Both social media and body-worn camera footage played in court clearly show [Border Patrol officer] Morales shove Ramos-Brito first, sending him flying backward into the busy intersection of Alondra Blvd.

On a cross-examination, federal public defender Cuauhtemoc Ortega questioned Bovino about being the subject of a misconduct investigation a few years ago and receiving a reprimand for referring to undocumented immigrants as “scum, filth and trash.”

“The report states that,” Bovino said. [Bovino signed the reprimand document.]

A juror who spoke to a Times reporter outside court said Bovino’s testimony had “no impact” on their decision. The lack of video evidence in the case led him to vote not guilty, the juror said.

 

[essentialsaltes]

A strawberry delivery driver arrested by Border Patrol tries to make his way home​

• A strawberry delivery driver was arrested by Border Patrol near Gov. Newsom’s Little Tokyo news conference, becoming “collateral damage.”
• Angel Minguela Palacios endured six weeks of harsh detention conditions, watching fellow detainees give up and self-deport.
• Over more than a month in detention, the 48-year-old father prayed he’d get back to his family.

The lights never dimmed and Angel Minguela Palacios couldn’t sleep. He pulled what felt like a large sheet of aluminum foil over his head, but couldn’t adjust to lying on a concrete floor and using his tennis shoes as a pillow.

He could smell unwashed bodies in the cramped room he shared with 40 detainees.

The bathrooms were open-air, providing no privacy. Detainees went days without showering.

Minguela, 48, lay in the chilly downtown Los Angeles ICE facility known as B 18 and thought about his partner of eight years and their three children. In his 10 years in the United States, he had built a secure life he had only dreamed of in Mexico, ensconced in their humble one-bedroom rented home, framed photos of the family at Christmas, his “#1 Dad” figurine. Now it was all falling apart.

In his time servicing ATMs in Ciudad Juárez [back in Mexico], he said he was kidnapped twice and at one point stabbed by people intent on stealing the cash. After his employers cut staff, he lost his job, helping drive his decision to leave.

Minguela came [LA and] soon found a job at the downtown produce market.

He met the woman he calls his esposa, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, at the second job he worked in the Piñata District.

The morning of Aug. 14, Minguela had been on his last delivery of the day, dropping off strawberries to a tearoom in Little Tokyo. He didn’t know that Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference there to inveigh against President Trump’s efforts to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives through redistricting in Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents were massing nearby, creating a show of force outside the event. [I don't believe we've received an answer about how immigration enforcement happened to be scheduled to take place next to Newsom's press conference.]

As they moved in, one agent narrowed in on Minguela’s delivery van
...
[after six days in the smelly holding cell, he was transferred to Arizona]

For the first time since his youth, Minguela had time to read books, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “No One Writes to the Colonel.” He read the Bible, taking comfort in Psalm 91, a prayer of trust and protection. He took online courses on CPR, computer skills and how to process his emotions.

But all the distractions, he said, didn’t change the fact that detainees were imprisoned.

Minguela lay in his darkened cell, reflecting on moments when he had arrived home, tired from work and traffic, and scolded his children about minor messes. About times he’d argued with his wife and given her the silent treatment. He made promises to God to be an even better husband and father. He asked that God help his lawyer on his case and to give him a fair judge.

Minguela had his bond hearing Sept 9. He was aided by the fact that he had entered the country lawfully [on a tourist visa], providing the judge the ability to either grant or deny him bond.

Alex Galvez, Minguela’s lawyer, told the judge about his client’s children. He pointed out that Minguela didn’t have a criminal record and was gainfully employed, the primary breadwinner for his family. Galvez submitted 16 letters of recommendation for his client.

When the government lawyer referred to Minguela as a flight risk, Galvez said, the judge appeared skeptical, pointing out that he’d been paying tens of thousands of dollars in taxes for the last 10 years.

A crowd of people waited to greet Minguela as soon as he stepped off a Greyhound bus at Union Station in downtown L.A. on Thursday night.

[HIs lawyer hopes to fight his removal and obtain a work permit.]

 

[essentialsaltes]

MQ-9 Predator drones shift from border patrol to protest surveillance in Los Angeles

• MQ-9 Predator drones were deployed over Los Angeles to monitor anti-ICE protests in June.
• Rights groups warn drones threaten civil liberties and 1st Amendment rights.
• The L.A. City Council endorsed a bill by Rep. Jimmy Gómez (D-Los Angeles) to ban military drones over demonstrators.

Previous news reports said the drones sent by the Department of Homeland Security conducted surveillance on the weekend of June 7 over thousands of protesters demonstrating against raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Predators flew over Los Angeles for at least four more days, according to tracking experts who identified the flights through air traffic control tower communications and images of a Predator in flight.

Those amateur sleuths, who monitor flight traffic and identified the first flight, which was confirmed by Customs and Border Protection, shared their findings on social media.

The deployment of Predators over protesters is a significant departure from the U.S. government’s policy not to fly the drones over demonstrations, to avoid the perception they are spying on 1st Amendment rights activity, U.S. officials said.

The last time Homeland Security sent a Predator to fly over protesters, according to U.S. government officials, was in Minneapolis during the 2020 protests against the killing of George Floyd by a police officer later convicted of his murder.

The drones were first brought to the U.S. southern border in 2005 and retrofitted for surveillance operations [hopefully, they took the laser-guided bombs off]. Homeland Security deployed the drones to fly the length of the 2,000-mile, U.S.-Mexico border, searching for drug traffickers and groups of undocumented migrants.

Just an hour south of Tucson lies Ft. Huachuca, one of four MQ-9 drone bases from which the drones deploy along the southern border and into the interior of the U.S.

“It is tested in war zones, the border, tested in cities along the border and tested in the interior of the country,” said Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights organization. “That tends to be the trajectory we see.”