ICE agents accused of racial profiling and using racist slurs in explosive court filing

Federal immigration agents in the Los Angeles area are accused of using racist slurs and carrying out immigration stops that unlawfully targeted Latino people based on their appearance, according to a new court filing.

The allegations are contained in a motion for a preliminary injunction filed Monday in the closely watched case Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem, in which plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to block what they describe as warrantless stops of people who “appear Latino and low-income or working-class.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said the enforcement practices have continued across the Central District of California even after highly publicized street raids ended last summer.

Among the evidence filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles is deposition testimony from a federal agent who allegedly acknowledged, “We’re (still) doing the same thing just with a different name.”

The filing also includes body camera footage in which one Department of Homeland Security agent is allegedly heard telling another, “Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks.”

According to the ACLU, “tonks” is a derogatory term referring to the sound of a flashlight striking a migrant’s head. Other agents were allegedly heard speculating whether people were “wet,” which the ACLU said is a racist slur derived from the term “wetback.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong has scheduled a Sept. 24 status conference to consider the request for a preliminary injunction.

The motion relies on body camera footage and sworn depositions that Judge Frimpong ordered the government to produce after the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an earlier temporary restraining order in the case last year.

The plaintiffs argue the stops violate the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection, alleging agents relied on race rather than individualized suspicion.

“Our communities have been denouncing foul play from day one,” Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said in a statement. “The evidence doesn’t lie: these arrests were never about safety, they were about skin color.”

The lawsuit was filed in July 2025 by residents, workers and immigrant advocacy groups, who allege Homeland Security agents carried out unconstitutional stops and detentions driven by enforcement quotas. Although Judge Frimpong initially restricted some enforcement actions, the Supreme Court later paused that order while the case continues.

Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers, said the raids left lasting fear among California farmworkers.

“Farm workers go to work afraid they may not come home, even as they put food on all of our tables,” Romero said. “The workers who feed this country deserve so much better.”