A California judge finds ICE stopped people for looking Latino. The Council's hearing on enforcement in New York is set for Nov. 20

A federal judge in Los Angeles has found a "mountain of evidence" that immigration agents stopped people because they appeared Latino, or Latino and working class, Gothamist reported Sunday. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong's temporary order, dated Oct. 23 and made public last week, bars ICE and other federal officers in the Central District of California from making stops without individualized reasonable suspicion. It follows an earlier order from the same judge that the Supreme Court blocked.

The judge cited dozens of stops, some recorded on body cameras, of people in work clothes, at car washes, on bicycles and driving children to school, Gothamist reported. The administration is appealing, according to the Los Angeles Times, as cited by Gothamist; a Justice Department official said the order would hinder immigration enforcement.

Why it matters to New Yorkers: the order does not apply here. But similar profiling claims have been made against ICE in New York and New Jersey, and the New York Civil Liberties Union said the ruling "confirms" what it has argued in its own court filings on behalf of New Yorkers, according to Gothamist.

What our records add

The Council's enforcement oversight hearing is Nov. 20. The Committee on Immigration, chaired by Elsie Encarnación, has scheduled "Examining the Current State of Immigration Enforcement Activity in New York City" for Friday, Nov. 20, at 10 a.m., according to its agenda (meeting page). We previously listed an Oct. 30 date for an enforcement hearing; the committee's Oct. 30 agenda instead covered pregnancy and birth outcomes for immigrants, and the enforcement topic is on the Nov. 20 agenda. No bills are on it as of today.

Bills on city cooperation with federal agents are waiting. As of Sunday:

• Int. 209, from Shahana K. Hanif, would create a private right of action related to civil immigration detainers and city cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Introduced Jan. 29, no hearing in 276 days.
• Int. 739, from Hanif, would require agencies to train staff and publish plans for handling immigration enforcement. Waiting since March 10, 236 days.
• Int. 1077 and Int. 1078, from Encarnación, would limit NYPD holds on civil immigration detainers and limit communication between the Correction Department and federal immigration authorities. Introduced Sept. 24, no hearing.
• Int. 261, from Shekar Krishnan, would bar city contracts with entities engaged in immigration enforcement. Heard March 9 and laid over.
• Res. 246, from Crystal Hudson, backs the federal VISIBLE Act, which would require immigration agents to display identification.

In the other direction, Int. 515, from Vickie Paladino, would repeal the city laws limiting detainers and cooperation with immigration enforcement. It has waited in committee since Jan. 29.

Profiling claims have reached the Council before. At an April 20 Immigration Committee hearing, a witness described immigration enforcement targeting tenants who had organized for better building conditions, through what the witness called racial and ethnic profiling.

One rights law is on the books. Int. 55, from Alexa Avilés, requiring multilingual "know your rights" signs at city agencies and schools, passed 44-6 in June and became law July 11 without the mayor's signature.

What's next

The federal government is appealing the California order, according to the Los Angeles Times, as cited by Gothamist. The Council's Immigration Committee meets Nov. 20; video and a searchable transcript will follow on our meeting page.