IRVINE, Calif. (July 2, 2025) — The UC Irvine School of Law’s Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic has joined a broad coalition of legal and community organizations in a class action lawsuit challenging the federal government’s recent immigration raids in Southern California.

Filed on July 2, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the amended complaint in Vasquez-Perdomo v. Noem seeks to halt what plaintiffs describe as unconstitutional and racially targeted immigration enforcement actions across Los Angeles, Orange County and surrounding areas.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of individuals stopped and detained in the raids, as well as labor and immigrant rights’ groups including the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and Immigrant Defenders Law Center. The Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic, directed by Professor Annie Lai, represents plaintiffs challenging the unlawful stop-and-arrest practices under the Fourth Amendment and federal law. The case is supported by a coalition of partners, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Public Counsel, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and others.
The amended complaint details allegations including stops based on racial profiling, warrantless arrests, denial of access to counsel and inhumane conditions in the notorious “B-18” holding facility in downtown Los Angeles. Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief to stop further violations and certification of several plaintiff classes corresponding to the government’s stop-and-arrest practices.
“We are proud to stand with our clients and fellow advocates to challenge this attack on our communities,” said Clinical Professor of Law Annie Lai. “These raids are not only illegal — they are an affront to human dignity and the basic values of our democracy.”
Read the full amended complaint: https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/vasquez_perdomo_v_noem_-_first_amended_petition_and_complaint.pdf.
Watch Professor Lai speak at a press conference held on July 2, 2025, in Torrance, CA, at Bubble Bath Hand Car Wash, the site of a contentious immigration raid last month, to address the lawsuit and ongoing enforcement actions: https://www.foxla.com/video/1668160.
Press Releases and Media Coverage
• ACLU of Southern California: Workers, Family Members, and Community Groups Sue DHS For Unlawful Arrest and Detention Scheme
• United Farm Workers: Workers, Family Members, and Community Groups Sue DHS For Unlawful Arrest and Detention Scheme
• New York Times: L.A. Legal Groups Sue to Stop ‘Unconstitutional’ Immigration Actions
• Los Angeles Times: L.A. ‘under siege’: Federal lawsuit targets rampant immigration raids
• CalMatters: ‘Brazen, midday kidnappings:’ LA immigration sweeps violate Constitution, lawsuit says
• Fox 11 (Video): LA, OC & Inland Empire unite in ACLU suit against federal raids
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