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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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The Trump administration denied allegations that federal immigration agents engage in racial profiling during enforcement operations, according to court filings.
"Defendants deny that immigration agents stop people "simply because the agents perceive them to be of Latino ethnicity" or engage in racial profiling," court documents read.
The statement comes in the government’s court filing in Escobar Molina et al. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a class action filed on September 25, 2025, by four Washington, D.C, residents and the nonprofit CASA.
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The plaintiffs allege that since August 2025, federal immigration officers have systematically conducted arrests without warrants or individualized probable cause assessments, practices they say violate statutory requirements and disproportionately affect Latino communities.
The filing adds that the defendants "lack sufficient knowledge or information to form a belief as to the truth of the remaining allegations in this paragraph," referring to other claims in the lawsuit.
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Why It Matters
Concerns over racial profiling have grown as U.S. citizens and legally present immigrants report being targeted during immigration enforcement actions. ICE has faced increased scrutiny as the Trump administration pursues what it calls the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history. Civil rights groups say aggressive enforcement, including workplace raids and increased arrests, may disproportionately affect Latino and other minority communities.
What To Know
The government’s filing maintains that ICE’s enforcement actions in D.C. are based on lawful authority and reasonable suspicion of immigration violations, not on ethnicity or race. It rejects claims that ICE follows a policy of targeting individuals based on appearance.
Plaintiff José Escobar Molina, a 47-year-old Salvadoran national who has held valid Temporary Protected Status (TPS) since 2001, was arrested on August 21, 2025, in Northwest D.C. by plainclothes federal agents without a warrant, according to court documents reviewed by Newsweek.
The documents state that agents handcuffed him without asking for identification, immigration status, or information about his community ties, and detained him overnight at an ICE processing center in Virginia. He was released the next day after an ICE supervisor confirmed his TPS status.
Plaintiff B.S.R, a 29‑year‑old man from Honduras who moved to Washington, D.C, with his family in 2019 and has a pending asylum application, was approached and arrested in his car outside his home by federal agents without a warrant or any inquiry into his identity or immigration status, according to court documents.
The filings say he was wearing an ICE‑issued ankle monitor at the time and was held for about ten hours at an ICE processing center in Chantilly, Virginia, before his release.
Plaintiff N.S, a 51‑year‑old Venezuelan national living in D.C. since 2024 with a pending asylum application, was stopped and arrested in a Home Depot parking lot by officers without a warrant or questions about his community ties, according to court documents.
All four plaintiffs say they fear future arrests and detentions because of their Latino or Latina ethnicity, according to court filings.
In its pleading, the government maintains that its immigration arrests and enforcement practices in the District are based on lawful authority under federal immigration law, rather than on ethnicity. The filing specifically states that defendants deny agents stopped or arrested people due to their perceived Latino ethnicity and reject the characterization of their actions as racial profiling.
In 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and top Trump aide Stephen Miller set a target of 3,000 daily arrests for ICE, according to several reports.
What People Are Saying
Attorney for plaintiffs wrote in court documents: "Federal agents have flooded the streets of the nation’s capital, indiscriminately arresting without warrants and without probable cause District residents whom the agents perceive to be Latino.
Government attorney's wrote in court documents: "Defendants deny that DHS or its components have a policy or practice of making civil immigration arrests without probable cause or that they have a policy or practice of arrest quotas."
What Happens Next
Litigation will remain ongoing.
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