Civil rights attorney trying to meet with victims of ICE raids:
It's a thread on Bluesky.
I spent most of today seeking to meet with one of the many victims of ICE raids currently jailed in Downtown LA.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T21:53:56.414Z
While @chrclla.bsky.social focuses its efforts on impact litigation, my team boosts efforts on the ground whenever possible.
What I saw speaks to the crisis in LA & beyond.
ICE victims are currently imprisoned in the basement of a DTLA federal building.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T21:55:29.758Z
Access is tightly controlled, and folks seeking to meet with their family members, friends, or clients have to wait in a fly-infested, dark, and seatless concrete hallway exposed to heat and other elements.
Attorneys are ostensibly allowed to visit clients from 9-4:00 p.m. every day.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T21:58:06.727Z
Family are only given the opportunity to meet with their loved ones from 1-4 p.m.
I arrived at 10:00 a.m. and didn't speak to the client until 1:30 p.m. - 3 and a half hours later.
While I waited, I spoke to panicked family members seeking word about the status of their dads, moms, children, partners, etc.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T21:59:32.767Z
They were met with a locked door and a cold and cruel voice, delivered through speaker, telling them to get in line.
I spoke to employers who were seeking to help employees abducted by ICE - including one boss seeking freedom for a U.S. citizen staffer who was arrested in the space between their uber and the front door of their workplace.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T22:01:41.669Z
Their boss had their U.S. passport in hand, pleading for their release.
I met a mother, in her 70s, who was there to provide medication for her loved one.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T22:08:10.029Z
All she wanted to do was get their pills to them. It took staff an hour and a half to take the pills from her and let her go home.
Two attorneys waiting alongside me had to give up - they had court hearings on behalf of other clients, and couldn't wait three or four hours just to do their work for those in need.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T22:10:15.832Z
Everybody that I met outside of that locked door was panicked, angry, anxious, and hurting for their loved ones.
— Sergio Perez (@sergioperez.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T22:12:40.524Z
One person had been there the day before and was turned away when visitation was abruptly ended because somebody in the crowd took a photograph of the miserable conditions there.
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