Border Patrol agents on the scene of a gas station in Kern County. Screen grab via San Joaquin Valley Transparency YouTube channel

California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a coalition opposing unlawful immigration stops in the Central Valley.

Bonta is leading a coalition of 17 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in United Farm Workers v. Noem, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to the border patrols unlawful stops and arrests during “Operation Return to Sender,” a multiday immigration raid in Kern County earlier this year.

In January, Border Patrol agents were deployed to Bakersfield for a weeklong operation through predominantly Hispanic areas of Kern County and the surrounding region.

“These unlawful stops and warrantless arrests have, unfortunately, become a familiar story for communities in California this past year,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The unscrupulous tactics used by Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and his team of agents during raids in Kern County, Los Angeles and across the nation threaten the basic civil liberties afforded to all who call this country home.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California previously granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting Border Patrol agents from conducting stops without reasonable suspicion and from making warrantless arrests without probable cause that the individual is a flight risk. The court also required border patrol agents to document the circumstances of their stops and arrests.

Bonta stated in a new release that the negative impacts of the raids included decreased school attendance, harm to farm operations and local economies and damaged trust between the community and state and local law enforcement.

The raids in Kern County resulted in the arrest of 78 people for allegedly not having lawful immigration status.

United Farm Workers and a class of individuals filed for a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They later filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop border patrol from conducting roving patrols through the predominantly Latino areas of Kern County to stop,
detain, and arrest people of color who appeared to be farm workers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status.

The district court granted the preliminary injunction and the federal administration appealed.