WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s top immigration officials on Sunday defended the use of aggressive snatch-and-detain tactics by masked and armed federal agents, days after a federal judge ruled that arrests were being made “based upon race alone.”
Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the administration’s case on Sunday talk shows, just a day after a farmworker died in California after being injured in a raid on a legal cannabis farm.
On Friday, District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered a halt to “roving patrols” targeting suspected undocumented migrants in Los Angeles, saying a person’s race, language, or workplace was not sufficient justification.
“Physical description cannot be the sole reason to detain and question somebody,” Homan said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ adding, “It’s a myriad of factors.” But he acknowledged that appearance was one of those factors and said there were sometimes “collateral arrests” of innocent people in targeted raids.
He said the administration would comply with the judge’s decision but fight it on appeal.
Noem called the judge’s ruling “ridiculous” and slammed what she called the “political” nature of the decision.
“We always built our operations, our investigations, on case work, on knowing individuals that we needed to target because they were criminals,” Noem said on ‘Fox News Sunday’.
Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants, has taken several actions aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.
As a so-called “sanctuary city” with hundreds of thousands of undocumented people, Los Angeles has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration since the Republican returned to power in January.
After ICE raids spurred unrest and protests last month, Trump dispatched the National Guard and US Marines to quell the disruption.
California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far.
On Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided a cannabis farm in Ventura County outside Los Angeles. About 200 migrants were detained, and clashes erupted with protesters.
One worker being chased by ICE agents fell from the roof of a greenhouse and died on Saturday.
Homan called the death “sad” but specified that the man was not in ICE custody at the time of his death.
American dream ‘no longer’
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had watched footage of “thugs” throwing rocks and bricks at ICE vehicles, causing “tremendous damage.”
Trump said he was authorising law enforcement officers who are “on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these slimeballs, using whatever means is necessary to do so”.
“I am giving total authorisation for ICE to protect itself, just like they protect the public,” he said.
Trump has been involved in a showdown over immigration enforcement with Democratic-ruled California for weeks.
The Republican president sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles last month to quell protests against round-ups of undocumented migrants by federal agents.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the troops were not necessary to address the mostly peaceful protests, but his legal efforts to have them removed have failed so far.
The cannabis farm in Camarillo was calm during a visit by an AFP reporter on Friday, as workers waited in line to collect their belongings and paychecks.
“We’ve been here since six this morning asking questions, but they’re not giving us any information,” said Saul Munoz, a 43-year-old Colombian whose son was detained on Thursday.
“I just want to know how he’s doing,” Munoz said. “Bring him back to me and if it’s time for us to leave, we’ll leave.
“The truth is the American dream is no longer really the American dream.”
