ACLU attorneys representing United Farm workers and five Kern County residents sued the heads of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol officials for alleging that the Border Patrol conducted a three-day three-day attack in the San Joaquin Valley in early January, an “fishing expedition” that created a colored “fishing expedition” that appeared to be colorful, and they appeared to be farm workers or cattle workers.
The complaint was filed Wednesday in federal court in the Eastern District of California, accusing agents of the Border Patrol's El Centro division of violations of protections provided by federal law and the U.S. Constitution, and they rounded up and expelled dozens of workers from the country without the authorization of the law. It seeks class action relief for everyone under the strategy, which is called “unsweeping, indiscriminate arrests and mandatory evictions.”
“It's obviously a coordinated action to sweep away as many people as possible, not based on any personalized reasons, but based on their obvious race, race or occupation; arrest them and deport many of their people from the country as much as possible, whether they know their rights or consequences,” said Bree Bernwanger, an attorney for the Northern California ACLU.
When asked to comment on the allegations, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said the Border Patrol law enforcement operations were “highly targeted.” Any allegations or potential misconduct will be referred for investigation, the agency said.
A spokesman for the Border Patrol El Centro unit said the agency had no comment on the pending lawsuit.
El Centro Industry Headquarters, 300 miles from Kern County’s sprawling farmland and orchards, led the unusual January raid that struck the end of the Biden administration. Chief Agent Gregory Bovino is a veteran over 25 who is in charge of Imperial County troops and he is not involved in U.S. immigration and customs enforcement operations. He was appointed as the defendant in the lawsuit.
Three former Biden administration officials asked to be anonymous because they were not authorized to share operational details, they told The Times that Bovino and January raids were “rogues”. Two former officials said no advanced upgrades knew about the action before watching the explosion in real time.
In an official statement, Bovino pointed out that the industry's area of responsibility extends from the border to the Oregon line, which justifies the raid. Border Patrol officials said the raid, known as the return sender, led to the arrest of 78 immigrants in the country, including child rapists. The agency has not designated an immigrant in detention to have a criminal record.
Meanwhile, advocates on the scene said the operation failed to target Latino farm workers, commuting from fields along California Route 99, while day workers recruit jobs in parking lots at large stores. They estimated that nearly 200 people were detained.
The Trump administration's threat to mass immigration attacks has sparked a shock wave in the Central Valley, where most of the immigrant labor helps harvest a quarter of the food grown in the United States
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
According to the legal complaint, agents flocked to businesses, farm workers and day workers gathered and pulled vehicles on vehicles that were primarily Latino communities, aiming in persons of color and asking them about their immigration status. Complaints accused Border Patrol agents of multiple illegal practices. Among them: Unreasonably suspected that they were illegal in the country, violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures, and detained them.
According to the complaint, if people refuse to answer questions about their immigration status, the agent conducts a search without permission or consent. The complaint said in some cases, when the person pulled into the car refused to answer the question, the agent responded, “smashed the car’s windows, cut the car’s tires, and/or ordered or evacuated the person from the vehicle and handcuffed it.”
During the raid, the U.S. Border Patrol said the return sender's action “focused on people who violate U.S. federal laws, trafficked dangerous substances, non-citizen criminals, and disrupted the routes used by transnational criminal organizations.”
Instead, according to the complaint, the action swept people, their immigration applications, no criminal history and homes built in the community. Advocates told the Times that many of these expelled spouses and American-born children.
Under federal law, immigration law enforcement officers can interrogate their rights in the country without a warrant, as long as people are involuntarily detained for inquiries. The Congressional Bureau of Research said a more invasive encounter requires reasonable suspicion that the crime is underway.
The lawsuit provides multiple examples of illegal treatment of the persons it argued during a January raid.
Wilder Munguia Esquivel, a 38-year-old Bakersfield resident, a laborer and handyman, stood outside Home Depot on January 7 when agents from the unmarked car arrived and asked to see people's immigration documents.
The complaint says that when Munguia Equivel flinched, he was handcuffed and the agent walked through his wallet.
“The Border Patrol agents did not recognize themselves at all, explaining to Mr. Munguia Esquivel why he stopped him, why he arrested him or made an arrest warrant,” the complaint said. “He never asked Mr. Munguia Esquivel about his family, employment or community relations, or any assessment of whether he posed a flight risk.”
The complaint alleges that the plaintiff Mungia Equivel in the lawsuit was shipped to El Centro and eventually released.
However, dozens of workers detained in the raid were transported to EL CENTRO stations for processing, and then forced to sign a voluntary deportation agreement, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit says agents force people to sign an agreement by detaining them in a cell without entering a sleeping area, shower, sanitation products or enough food, and denying their communication with attorneys or family members. It said agents directed people to sign their names on electronic screens without informing them of the Fifth Amendment right to immigration hearings. It said they signed copies of the forms only after being deported to Mexico.
The complaint said at least 40 of the arrested people were deported to the border after receiving voluntary departure.
Trump's presidential campaign office pledged the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, initially focusing his remarks on tracking undocumented immigrants accused of violent crimes. His administration now says it believes that all immigrants in the United States have no legal authorization to be criminals because they violate immigration laws.
The complaint requires the court to force the Border Patrol and its parent company, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to act in compliance with the Constitution and federal regulations.
“Without court intervention, we have good reason to expect a return to the sender's action is just the first example we will continue to see from the Border Patrol,” Bernwinger said.
This article is part of the Times Equity Reporting Plan,,,,, Depend on James Irving FoundationExplore the challenges faced by low-income workers and their efforts to solve them California's economic divide.
