A federal judge in California temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Friday from conducting sweeping immigration raids and racially profiling people in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong said agents are prohibited from targeting people based on their apparent ethnicity, the language they’re speaking, their presence at a particular location or the type of work they’re engaged in. The judge also ordered immigration authorities to provide anyone they arrest with immediate access to lawyers.
One of the plaintiffs in the case is Brian Gavidia, who was aggressively pushed up against a fence by ICE agents during a raid and questioned as he repeatedly told the agents he was a U.S. citizen. Gavidia spoke at a press conference Friday.
Brian Gavidia: “I truly believe that. I believe in the Constitution. I believe in America. I believe in what we stand. I believe in this court system. And I believe that what’s going down right now in the United States is wrong. I believe in the Constitution. We are ignoring the Constitution at this very moment. It is not right. We will not stand down. We are all Americans here. We will not allow this to happen. We follow the Constitution.”