Lawsuit alleges Trump administration's warrantless immigration raids in SoCal are unlawful

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alleges that warrantless immigration raids in Southern California are unlawful.

Residents, workers and advocacy groups sued the DHS in July 2025, alleging unconstitutional stop and detention practices by agents tied to arbitrary enforcement quotas. An amended complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court earlier this year adds new claims of violations of equal protection and use of unreasonable tactics by DHS agents.

The suit was brought by five individual Latino workers and three membership organizations -- the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights -- as well as Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a legal services provider.

In the amended complaint, the plaintiffs argued the government is intentionally discriminating against Latino communities in California, choosing whom to stop and which locations to raid based on race, and treating Latino people differently because of their apparent ethnicity.

"Since the administration began its raids in Los Angeles last year, federal agents have routinely arrested people without obtaining a warrant and without conducting a determination of escape risk before a warrant can be obtained for their arrest as required by federal law," the ACLU of Southern California said in a statement.

On Thursday morning, Chandra Bhatnagar, executive director of ACLU of Southern California, spoke at a news conference outside the downtown L.A. courthouse where the case is being heard.

"Of the 113 arrest records that we have reviewed," Bhatnagar said, "nearly 80 percent either contained no escape risk assessment whatsoever, or largely relied on boilerplate language. We've discovered that agents have arrested people without asking basic questions about their jobs, about their families, their homes, or ties to their communities. This is unlawful."

Trump administration officials have previously defended the stepped-up enforcement by saying the crackdown is necessary to maintain the rule of law, to capture violent criminals in the country illegally, and to reverse the flood of people who poured over the U.S. Mexico border during the Biden administration.

City News Service contributed to this report.