Federal immigration agents in Los Angeles allegedly used racial slurs to refer to Latinos during enforcement operations last summer, according to body camera footage and text messages filed in court. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California presented this evidence as part of a motion for a preliminary injunction.
The ACLU filing seeks to halt what it describes as a pattern of "race-based profiling" by federal agents during immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration.
Body camera footage released in the court filings appears to capture agents using derogatory terms. In one video, an agent can be heard saying, "Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks and we'll jump out." The ACLU states that "tonk" is a slur used by agents, referring to the sound of a person's head striking a baton or flashlight.
Another video includes an agent saying, "There was a guy, I'm pretty sure he's wet he was just sitting in that minivan." The ACLU suggests this is a shortened slur referring to Latinos.
Text messages between agents, also included in the court filings, allegedly contain similar language. One message reads, "Some of these people are stupid. Why would you post on social media that you're wet." Another message states, "Btw tonks everywhere selling food for the 4th festivities in long beach right now."
The lawsuit was filed last year by the ACLU on behalf of individuals, including U.S. citizens, who were reportedly stopped, questioned, and sometimes detained by immigration agents in the Central District of California. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong had previously issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting stops based solely on race, but the Supreme Court later lifted these restrictions.
"This filing should shock the conscience," Mayra Joachim, deputy director of immigrants' rights at ACLU SoCal, said in a statement regarding the court documents. "Evidence gathered from the government has confirmed what our communities have known all along: immigration officers are flagrantly violating the law by detaining people without justification and often primarily because of the color of their skin."
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not comment on whether the use of slurs violates its policies. Instead, the spokesperson stated that "our agents are focused on protecting the American people -- not entertaining performative outrage" and questioned, "Where is the media's outrage for Angel families who lost a loved one to illegal alien crime?"