Unlawful Click and Arrest Tactic at the Heart of ICE’s Secure Communities Dragnet on Trial

Los Angeles, CA – After years of constitutional violations committed by ICE, this week, ICE’s deportation dragnet itself is on trial. Gonzalez v. ICE, a landmark class-action lawsuit, began a three-week trial this Tuesday (05/07/2019) in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit challenges U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) unconstitutional practice of asking local law enforcement to incarcerate individuals based on nothing more than incomplete and error-ridden database information.

“We have fought ICE’s deportation dragnet for many years. This week, we are putting S-COMM itself on trial.

“The local revolt against this dragnet (S-COMM) by cities and states across the country is the reason Trump cannot reach Obama level deportations. Today, these sanctuary cities and states have been the popular line of defense against mass deportation. That is why Trump attacks sanctuary cities. That is why Trump and ICE have announced a desperate initiative to enlist sheriffs in Florida.

“But Trump and ICE’s flailing attempts to expand its dragnet will fail. And their political attacks will only galvanize more cities to oppose them. Every lie, every immoral detention will inspire more vigorous resistance,” said Pablo Alvarado, NDLON Executive Director.

Since 2008, ICE has requested the arrest of more than 2 million people nationwide. The lawsuit challenges the ICE detainers issued by agents reviewing nothing more than a set of inaccurate databases in a federal building in Laguna Niguel where detainers are issued for 42 states. These agents neither speak to the individuals nor review their immigration files, yet they have been given the power — at the click of a button and in defiance of the 4th Amendment — to have people arrested and jailed.

The Plaintiff class includes thousands of individuals who are currently subject to ICE’s unlawful detainer requests. They are represented by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California (ACLU SoCal), and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).

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