Blue banner at top reads: “ACLU News Release” with a blue torch logo. Text reads: “ACLE SUES IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE. Southern California ACLU, in conjunction with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, filed a class action suit Friday, June 22, against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (I.N.S.). The historic suit charges indiscriminate and unconstitutional arrests and deportation or persons of Latin appearance, including American citizens and legal residents, who “by virtue of appearance have been and continue to be subject to arrest without probable cause or without reason to believe that there is likelihood of imminent escape.” In the past month, 10,000 or more brown skinned persons have been rounded up without warrant, and in most cases without hearings or rights of counsel, and deported. Donald T. Williams, acting director of the INS, said that the raids would continue indefinitely in an attempt to decrease the “very heavy concentration of aliens illegally in the area.” Williams, also named as a defendant in the suit, said the “routine investigative efforts of INS have been unable to cope with the problem” (sic). Most of the raids have taken place at places of employment especially in the garment industry, at homes, and at schools. Some people have been indiscriminately approached even at bus stops. The suit, supported by the Immigration Lawyers Association and CASA….charges that all persons of brown skin are being subjected to “systematic patten of conduct and custom consisting of… (more)”

In 1972-73, the Immigration and Naturalization service carried out widespread raids on workplaces, businesses, and homes in Los Angeles. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, in collaboration with the Center for Autonomous Social Action (CASA) and other allies in the Latinx community, filed suit to stop the raids–a case that became known as Loya v. INS. As this press release details, the ACLU charged that the INS was using “terror methods,” and targeting everyone with a “Latin appearance” including U.S. citizens. View the Document.