Federal immigration agents conducting enforcement operations in Los Angeles last summer reportedly used racial slurs to refer to Latinos, according to body camera footage and text messages released in court filings by the ACLU of Southern California.

The ACLU included blurred and redacted body camera videos and forensically recovered texts as part of a motion for a preliminary injunction. The motion seeks to end what the organization calls a pattern of "race-based profiling" by federal agents during stops tied to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

In one video, an agent is heard saying, "Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks and we'll jump out." The term "tonk" is described as a derogatory word used by agents to denote the sound an immigrant's head makes when struck by a baton or flashlight. Another video captures an agent referring to a person with a term allegedly shortened from a slur for Latinos.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson did not address whether the use of slurs violates agency policies. Instead, the spokesperson stated, "our agents are focused on protecting the American people -- not entertaining performative outrage," and questioned, "Where is the media's outrage for Angel families who lost a loved one to illegal alien crime?"

Mayra Joachim, deputy director of immigrants' rights at ACLU SoCal, called the court filing "shock[ing] the conscience." She said, "Evidence gathered from the government has confirmed what our communities have known all along: immigration officers are flagrantly violating the law by detaining people without justification and often primarily because of the color of their skin."

Sources