A federal judge in California held the Department of Homeland Security in contempt for not complying with an order to search and turn over communications in federal agents’ cellphones about immigration operations in Los Angeles, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong wrote in her order, filed July 28, that the court had provided the federal government “plenty of time” to find messages kept on agents’ personal phones relating to 15 immigration enforcement actions under Operation At Large last year.
The American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel and other immigration advocacy groups requested the material as part of an effort to halt federal immigration agents from using an individual’s perceived race to conduct stops.
“Given that Plaintiffs have shown by clear and convincing evidence that the Defendants
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violated a specific and definite order of the court, the burden shifted to Defendants to demonstrate why they were unable to comply,” Frimpong wrote in her contempt order. “They have failed to do so.”
Frimpong ordered DHS to pay $500 every day until it complies with the order to turn over imaging of the phone messages. DHS must also reimburse the lawsuits’ plaintiffs — five Latino workers and other advocacy organizations — for the “time and costs spent by their attorneys in getting the government to comply” with the order.
Body camera footage obtained through court-ordered discovery has revealed federal immigration agents calling Latinos racial slurs during Operation At Large. Text message screenshots filed as exhibits contained conversations of agents exchanging locations of where Latino workers gather, as well as worried talks about possible violations of a temporary restraining order that prohibited indiscriminate arrests.
In December, DHS told the court that agents do not use texting functions on their mobile phones for professional duties, the court order says. Five individuals later testified that month that they, in fact, did use their personal phones for work. DHS argued again in April that agents’ personal phones were outside its possession, custody and control.
A magistrate judge rebutted DHS’ arguments in July and stated that the forensic imaging order remained in effect.
DHS submitted its first payment for violating the court on Tuesday in the amount of $3,500, according to court documents.
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