Lawsuit seeks to stop ICE’s use of private guards to make California immigration arrests
Two civil rights organizations have filed a federal class action lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an attempt to get the federal agency to halt what the organizations describe as an “illegal practice” of using private companies to detain people.
The Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed the lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court for Central California. The complaint says the federal immigration agency uses private companies, such as G4S Secure Solutions, Inc., to detain people upon their release from jails and prisons in California. The private guards, the suit says, then transfer the individuals to ICE.
“Federal law prohibits ICE from using private security to make immigration arrests, a fact that immigration officials have willfully ignored,” the organizations said in a Monday statement.
This is not the first time the issue surfaces in the state. In December, the same organizations filed claims against Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials on behalf of four individuals — including a U.S. citizen — seeking damages for their “illegal” transfers to immigration officials. The four individuals were transferred to ICE by private guards.
Gabriel A. Archer, a spokesman for ICE, said the agency can’t comment due to ongoing litigation.
“However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement with or stipulation to any of the allegations,” he said in a statement to The Bee on Monday.
Lawsuit claims ICE policy in place since 2016
The Friday lawsuit was filed on behalf of Gabriela Solano, 48, who is a lawful permanent resident, and survivor of domestic violence, as well as those similarly situated, the lawsuit says.
Solano, according to the lawsuit, was granted parole after serving 22 years in prison, but she now “faces imminent arrest by G4S once released from prison,” according to the organizations.
“I’ve been dreaming of being reunited with my family and community for so long, and now it could finally happen. But the fear of being arrested by G4S, locked in an ICE detention center, and possibly deported to Mexico, keeps me up at night,” Solano said in the statement. “I was brought here to the U.S. at the age of two and my closest family is here. This is where I hope to build a new life with the second chance I’ve been given.”
The lawsuit claims ICE has been using G4S at least since 2016 to arrest individuals throughout prisons in California.
Attorneys had previously maintained the transfers to ICE were illegal under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.
Two separate codes under the subsection — Exercise of power by immigration officers — outline immigration officers who have the authority to make immigration arrests and carry out warrants for arrests for immigration violations.
“The State of California is aware of G4S’s abusive practices yet continues to voluntarily collaborate and turn Californians over to G4S,” the organizations said. “Further, state officials’ practice of continuing transfers to ICE during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the widely documented, gruesome conditions in ICE detention centers, exhibits a blatant disregard for their constitutional obligation to safeguard the welfare of those in their custody.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Lawsuit seeks to stop ICE’s use of private guards to make California immigration arrests."
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