Four Washington, D.C. residents, along with the immigration organization CASA, filed a class action suit against the Trump administration on Thursday, alleging that federal agents have systematically arrested people in the city without warrants or probable cause.
“Over the past month and a half, plain-clothed, masked, and armed federal agents have flooded the streets of the nation’s capital, indiscriminately arresting without warrants and without probable cause District residents whom the agents perceive to be Latino,” says the complaint.
The complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of D.C., the National Immigration Project, and others, on behalf of the plaintiffs.
In August, President Trump declared a crime emergency in D.C., despite record-low rates of violent crime. During that press conference, Trump made numerous misleading statements about the prevalence of crime in the city, and announced that D.C. will “no longer be a sanctuary for illegal alien criminals.”
“We will have full, seamless, integrated cooperation at all levels of law enforcement, and we’ll deploy officers across the District with an overwhelming presence,” he said.
A few days later, on August 15, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed D.C.’s mayor to use local resources to assist with “enforcement of federal immigration law,” including “locating, apprehending, and detaining aliens unlawfully present in the United States.”
Between the time of the emergency declaration and September 9, more than 40 percent of the arrests in D.C. were for alleged civil immigration violations, more than any other cause for arrests, according to the suit. The complaint says that federal officers have indiscriminately targeted anyone who appears Latino, including one person who was taking the trash out and another who was walking out of a grocery store.
Agents abducted one resident when he was on his way to dialysis treatment, according to the groups’ press release announcing the lawsuit. He was detained for over eight hours, without food or his medication.
“They ignored my U.S. driver’s license and left me without critical treatment that day, putting my health in immediate danger,” he said in a statement. “Since then, I have lived in fear that I could be torn from my family and deported to a place where I cannot get the medical care I need to survive.”
All four of the individual plaintiffs in the case were abducted by federal agents who did not have warrants for their arrest.
José Escobar Molina, who has had Temporary Protected Status (TPS) since 2001, was taken by federal agents as he was about to get into his truck and start his work day.
“The agents immediately handcuffed Mr. Escobar Molina, grabbed him by the arms and legs, and called him ‘illegal’ repeatedly,” the suit says. “When he responded that he has ‘papers’ (in other words, immigration status), they replied, ‘No you don’t. You are illegal.’”
After they put him in a vehicle, he told them again he had “papers.”
The driver reportedly yelled at him, “Shut up, bitch! You’re illegal.”
He was detained overnight and released the next day after a supervisor realized Molina had valid TPS.
Federal agents abducted another plaintiff, identified in the complaint as N.S., as he sat in his car in a Home Depot parking lot after he finished shopping.
“The agents pulled N.S. out of the driver’s seat, threw him against the car, handcuffed him, and provided him a clear bag in which to place his belongings, before placing him in the back of a van,” the complaint says.
N.S., who has a pending asylum application, was detained for almost four weeks in detention centers around the country until he was released on his own recognizance.
“His knee is swollen due to being shackled for several hours at a time and sitting on several long flights as he was repeatedly transferred while detained,” the complaint says. “He is unable to sleep through the night. He is scared to walk outside or drive and has stopped driving his grandchildren and youngest son to school.”
In another case, a plaintiff identified as R.S.M. and her husband were driving to work when federal agents surrounded their car. They detained R.S.M for about 10 hours, and released her with an ankle monitor. R.S.M. has a pending asylum application.
Trump’s emergency order expired on September 11, but “mass immigration stops and arrests in D.C. are continuing,” the complaint says.
After D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said local police would stop cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) once the emergency declaration expired, Trump lashed out at the mayor, who he had previously praised for her cooperation.
“It has been a beautiful thing to watch but, now, under pressure from the Radical Left Democrats, Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has presided over this violent criminal takeover of our Capital for years, has informed the Federal Government that the Metropolitan Police Department will no longer cooperate with ICE in removing and relocating dangerous illegal aliens,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“If I allowed this to happen, CRIME would come roaring back. To the people and businesses of Washington, D.C., DON’T WORRY, I AM WITH YOU, AND WON’T ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN,” he continued. “I’ll call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary!!!”
Most of the city’s residents, however, are opposed to the president’s takeover. In August, D.C. resident Sean Dunn, who threw a sandwich at a federal agent, became a folk hero, and a grand jury refused to indict him.
“Fuck you! You fucking facists!” he allegedly yelled before throwing the sandwich. “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
