ICE Officers in LA Barred From Impersonating Local Police in Home Arrests

The settlement resolves a class-action suit alleging deceptive home arrest tactics, such as agents posing as probation officers or fabricating safety threats.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent watches as Customs and Border Protection officers confront protesters in Camarillo, Calif., on July 10, 2025. Blake Fagan/AFP/Getty Images

Federal immigration officers in Southern California are now barred from posing as local police or using other deceptive tactics to conduct home arrests, under a court settlement approved this week in a class-action lawsuit challenging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) practices.

U.S. District Judge Otis Wright on Aug. 4 granted final approval of a settlement agreement in a case filed in 2020 by a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status recipient and two advocacy groups—the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ICIJ).