Trump accumulates multiple million-dollar lawsuits for detaining citizens in the raids

Los Angeles.- The Government of President Donald Trump is accumulating multiple lawsuits from American citizens detained in immigration raids, including a construction worker arrested twice and an elderly man beaten and held in custody despite recovering from heart surgery. Legal complaints, seeking damages of up to $50 million against the U.S. Executive Branch for violations of the constitutional rights of its citizens, are becoming commonplace. Last Monday, American Leonardo García Venegas sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for detaining him on two occasions at construction sites, which have become one of the favorite targets of immigration agents. The worker, represented by the Institute for Justice, alleges that the arrests he suffered in Alabama, the state where he resides and works, were “unreasonable” and violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects him against searches and seizures without probable cause. The Hispanic man, of Mexican parents, was first arrested in May when masked agents entered a construction site. The worker was knocked to the ground and handcuffed even though he told them he was a U.S. citizen, according to a video recording. Even after presenting his REAL ID identification (which Alabama only issues to legal residents), the agents kept him handcuffed for an hour. In June, the Latino was detained again in a house where he worked, and although he once again showed his identification, the agents refused to accept it, took him out of the construction site and detained him along with other detainees, releasing him, along with other legal residents, twenty minutes later. The lawsuit, filed as a collective action by construction workers, includes 19 examples of citizens and legal residents who were allegedly detained “under circumstances” similar to those of García Venegas.

“As demonstrated by the experience of Leo García Venegas, these illegal policies have real consequences for innocent and working Americans,” states the lawsuit, which seeks compensation for the Hispanic worker.

The arrest and attack on a recently operated

The Trump administration is also facing a lawsuit filed by Rafie Ollah Shouhed, 79, owner of a car wash in Los Angeles, who alleges that he suffered fractures, serious injuries, and traumatic brain injury after being detained in an immigration raid on September 9th. Videos from security cameras show masked agents breaking into the business without authorization, pushing Shouhed to the ground in a hallway. Despite the first aggression, the owner went out to speak with the agents about his employees. But they insulted him and violently threw him to the pavement to pounce on him. One of them pressed his neck with his knee while another twisted his arms behind his back, even though he told them that he had recently undergone heart surgery, couldn’t breathe and needed an ambulance. The lawsuit, which seeks $50 million in damages, warns that the agents ignored his pleas and transported him handcuffed to the Los Angeles detention center, where he was held for almost 12 hours without medical attention and denied phone calls. In addition to physical injuries, and intentionally inflicting distress, the lawsuit alleges a violation of California’s Bane Act, which prohibits interfering with a person’s constitutional rights through force or the threat of violence.

Against Excessive Use of Force

Last August, five citizens and permanent residents announced separate lawsuits against the DHS, considering that they were arbitrarily detained in the raids. One of the plaintiffs is Cary López Alvarado, who was arrested while pregnant, and claims that her baby was born prematurely because of this. Luis Carrillo, a lawyer representing the five plaintiffs and seeking at least one million dollars in compensation in each case, told EFE that the actions of the immigration agents “were brutal” and that they hope these lawsuits will stop the excessive use of force. The situation is so serious, according to Carrillo, that he has joined Congresswoman Maxine Waters and activist Dolores Huerta to present a petition to the United Nations Human Rights Council to request an investigation into the abuses of citizens and immigrants.