Federal Lawsuit Alleges Racial Profiling by Immigration Agents
Plaintiffs seek injunction against warrantless stops, citing constitutional violations and derogatory language.
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Carla Rooney
A lawsuit filed in July 2025 by residents, workers, and immigrant advocacy groups alleges federal immigration agents engaged in discriminatory practices, including racial profiling and the use of slurs.
Newly released court documents confirm ICE agents used racial and anti-immigrant slurs during immigration operations in the Los Angeles area in summer 2023.
The plaintiffs claim these stops violate the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures; they further allege agents relied on race, not individualized suspicion, during these operations, breaching the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection.
The ACLU claims Department of Homeland Security agents were heard using the term 'tonks,' a derogatory term for the sound of a flashlight hitting a migrant's head.
ACLU indicated that Other agents reportedly speculated whether people were 'wet,' a term the ACLU states is a racist slur derived from 'wetback.'.
One US citizen, Angel Santiago Tafolla, stated agents handcuffed him and placed him in a van during an ICE sweep at his Orange County workplace.
Tafolla believes agents targeted him due to his darker skin tone; lighter-skinned co-workers remained unpursued.
A fourth plaintiff reported masked immigration agents physically manhandled him despite his identification as a US citizen.
The motion for a preliminary injunction relies on body camera footage and sworn depositions, critical pieces of evidence ordered by Judge Maame E. Frimpong.
The Supreme Court previously stayed an earlier temporary restraining order in the case, an action that intensified the legal scrutiny.
Beyond the legal debate, this lawsuit emerges against a backdrop of heightened rhetoric; Donald Trump sent the national guard to Los Angeles, citing a need to 'liberate' the city from a 'migrant invasion.'
Meanwhile, on the ground, the ongoing legal battle has galvanized civil liberties advocates, with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California filing the initial complaint.
U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong has scheduled a September 24 status conference to further address the complex issues presented in the case.