DHS spokesperson defends construction-site enforcement, calls Venegas suit 'race-baiting opportunism'
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
“DHS law enforcement uses 'reasonable suspicion' to make arrests. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Associated Press wire story (byline Tim Sullivan) carrying DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin's on-the-record statement dismissing the lawsuit as 'race-baiting opportunism,' published the day after the AP's initial filing story.
Before the quotation
The lawsuit filed by Leo Garcia Venegas and the Institute for Justice accused DHS agents of detaining Latino construction workers based on their ethnicity and disregarding their evidence of citizenship.
After the quotation
McLaughlin also said any U.S. citizens arrested by DHS agents were detained because they obstructed or assaulted law enforcement, not because of their appearance, and that the lawsuit contributed to a reported rise in assaults on ICE officers.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Did DHS violate the Fourth Amendment with warrantless immigration raids on Alabama construction sites?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
McLaughlin's statement defends DHS's construction-site enforcement as lawful, denying that ethnicity plays any role in who is detained and asserting agents rely on 'reasonable suspicion' under the Fourth Amendment. This defends the department's targeted practices that are under scrutiny in the case rather than condemning them.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Leo Garcia Venegas, Institute for Justice
Did DHS violate the Fourth Amendment with warrantless immigration raids on Alabama construction sites?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
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