ACLU Seeks Injunction Against DHS Racial Profiling in California

The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights groups filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on July 28, 2026, seeking to bar federal immigration agents from conducting racial profiling stops in the Central District of California. The lawsuit, Vasquez Perdomo vs. Noem, alleges that U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents targeted Latinos during suspicionless stops and utilized racial slurs such as "tonks" and "wet" to identify targets.

Evidence produced through expedited discovery, including body camera footage and text messages from 2025, suggests agents arrested non-targets, referred to as "collaterals," during sweeps in Los Angeles and Hollywood. These practices followed a May 2025 directive to increase such arrests during "Operation at Large." While U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong initially issued a temporary restraining order against race-based arrests, the Supreme Court of the United States stayed that order in August 2025.

Plaintiffs, including the United Farm Workers and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, argue these actions violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Judge Frimpong has considered holding the government in contempt for failing to forensically image agents' cell phones and has scheduled a status conference for September 24 to discuss the injunction. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson dismissed the claims as "performative outrage," asserting that agents are focused on protecting the American people.