The Southern Poverty Law Center is suing the federal government, claiming that raiding immigrant family homes is against the US Constitution. The civil rights group filed the lawsuit in the District Court for the Northern District of the Atlanta Division in Georgia. It alleged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials entered immigrant family homes without consent, probable cause or warrants, violating the Fourth Amendment, for the purpose of detaining and deporting families.
The suit was brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on behalf of several families caught up in a targeted sweep of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras immigrants on 2 and 3 January 2016. The complaint alleges that an ICE officer pretended to be a police officer and threatened to place one family member under arrest unless they allowed him into the house to search for fictional criminal suspects.
The deputy legal director of SPLC, Lisa Graybill, released a statement alleging that ICE agents used lies and fears to prey on vulnerable families and enter their homes improperly and without cause to detain people. She added that one of the most fundamental values of the US is the safety of one’s home and the freedom from being unlawfully searched and seized, constitutional rights that all levels of law enforcement are legally obligated to protect.
Graybill added that ICE agents ignored due process and tore apart families in the raids, and the SPLC has asked the court to force the government to pay damages.