Please attribute the following statement to Michael Kaufman, the Sullivan & Cromwell Access to Justice staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, regarding a letter sent today by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Attorney Mike Feuer and City Council President Herb Wesson to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), demanding that its agents immediately stop impersonating police officers:
The ACLU of Southern California is heartened by action taken by city leaders to urge that ICE agents immediately cease impersonating police officers in Los Angeles. This serves as an important first step to halt ICE’s deceptive practices that exploit city policies that assure immigrant residents they can cooperate with the police without fear of deportation. The ACLU and other civil rights groups urged Thursday that the city take this step, and will continue to work to ensure that ICE ceases its deceptive tactics.
