The U.S. government filed an appeal of a Los Angeles federal judge’s ruling to restrict immigration arrests by ICE agents, claiming immigration policy lies in the hands of Congress and the president.
U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ruled ICE raids as unconstitutional on Friday, saying ICE agents are committing discriminatory arrests and withholding legal services to people who have been arrested. Frimpong further issued two restraining orders on the Trump administration’s immigration tactics in Los Angeles County and six surrounding counties.
The Trump administration announced on Sunday it is appealing one of Frimpong’s issued orders, which prohibits ICE agents from stopping people based on their race, ethnicity, or occupation, claiming ICE agents do not commit discriminatory arrests and that the ruling was an overstep of judiciary power.
“Department of Homeland Security enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence,” Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, told The Center Square Monday.
“Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson also said federal judges do not have the authority to control immigration policy. Only Congress and the president do, she said in a City News Service story published on the ABC7 website. Jackson also said immigration operations require a lot of planning and good execution, which is more complex than what a federal judge comes up with in a ruling.
Frimpong said plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed July 2 against the Department of Homeland Security in a Los Angeles federal court were wrongfully arrested by ICE agents without adequate evidence to show they were immigrants. Frimpong also said discriminatory arrests are in violation of “the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable government seizure”, according to NPR.
The Center Square reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the organizations that filed the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, but did not receive a comment.
White House border czar Tom Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that there was no way for Frimpong to know for certain that ICE agents were making discriminatory arrests.
“I mean, she’s (Frimpong) assuming that the officers don’t have reasonable suspicion,” Homan said. “”So unless she’s in the officer’s mind, I don’t know if she would make that decision that, well, they’re not using reasonable suspicion. How does she know that?”
The Trump administration also disagreed with the ruling because it claims ICE arrests are helping to keep the U.S. safer and any attempt to diminish ICE is harmful to the American people.
“America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities,” McLaughlin of Homeland Security said.
