Class action settlement says LA ICE officers can't pose as police to make arrests

LOS ANGELES - A district judge has approved a class action settlement that bars immigration officials from posing as local and state law enforcement when performing operations at homes in the Los Angeles area.

What we know:

U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II approved the class action settlement this week. 

Under the terms of the agreement, ICE officers are not allowed to use "deceptive ruses" during operations at homes in the Los Angeles area, including identifying themselves as state, local or other law enforcement officials.

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The approved agreement prohibits local ICE officers from things like:

• Identifying as any other type of government official than an immigration official
• Entering a home without a warrant or consent "for the purpose of arresting residents"
• Misrepresent a danger to public safety
• Claim they are looking for people other than the suspect they're looking for
• Claim that there's a legal or safety issue with someone's car

The agreement also requires officers to have clear physical identifiers marking them as "ICE" whenever they're wearing gear that marks them as "Police," to verbally identify themselves as "ICE" or "immigration" during the arrest, and new training on the Fourth Amendment.

The backstory:

This settlement stems from a lawsuit filed in April 2020, against then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The lawsuit was submitted on behalf of Osny Kidd, a Hacienda Heights resident and DACA recipient, and two immigrant rights organizations.

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In 2018, ICE officers went to Kidd's Hacienda Heights home, which was in a gated community. They got onto the property after another homeowner left. Kidd wasn't home when the officers came, but his mom was. According to the lawsuit, one ICE officer claimed to be a detective with local police, and said that they were investigating a dangerous criminal who was using their address. Kidd's mom let the officers in. When they realized he wasn't there, Kidd's mother called him to come home and help officers with their investigation. When Kidd came home, officers arrested Kidd for deportation.

The lawsuit cited nine other cases where officers allegedly identified themselves as either local police or even probation officers.

What they're saying:

Immigrant rights advocates say that the approval of the settlement comes at an important time, with the recent surge of immigration enforcement across Southern California, and President Donald Trump's policies funneling billions of dollars into ICE.

"For far too long, ICE disrespected the privacy of community members by taking shortcuts around the Constitution’s requirement that law enforcement have a warrant signed by a judge to enter a home," said Annie Lai, director of the Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidary Clinic at the UC Irvine School of Law. "Thanks to this settlement, ICE must now be transparent about who they are if they don’t have a warrant and want to speak with someone at their home. These protections could not come at a better time." 

Dig deeper:

The agreement applies to ICE's Los Angeles field office, which covers LA, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

The full settlement can be read on the ACLU of Southern California website by tapping or clicking here.