ANAHEIM, Calif. (July 22, 2025) — Anaheim has voted to join a federal lawsuit challenging immigration enforcement tactics that have played out in our city and across the region as part of a surge operation that began on June 6.
Anaheim’s City Council approved seeking to join the lawsuit in a closed session hearing and vote on Tuesday.
By seeking to join the lawsuit, Anaheim is looking to express the city’s concerns about how enforcement is playing out and the impacts it has brought to our residents, neighborhoods and businesses.
“We are standing with our community with this action,” Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said. “Indiscriminate and inhumane immigration enforcement has left residents in fear, businesses without customers and our community and economy shaken. Anaheim has met this moment with aid for families, access to legal resources and critical information for our community. This is our next step — we are asking the courts to weigh in and address the hurtful impacts we have seen and the damage brought to real people across Anaheim.”
Anaheim’s joining of the lawsuit requires review and approval from presiding District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong.
The lawsuit, filed on June 20 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is known as Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, et al., v. Kristi Noem, et al.
The plaintiffs include five workers from Pasadena, Baldwin Park and Los Angeles.
The suit alleges civil rights violations in incidents of federal immigration enforcement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, a unit of Customs and Border Protection.
The litigation names several federal officials as defendants, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
Judge Frimpong has issued a temporary restraining order in the case on July 11.
The order halts indiscriminate immigration enforcement in public places by roving patrols without a warrant and requires meeting the legal standard of reasonable suspicion, or a reasonable belief supported by facts required to detain and question someone.
It also requires access to legal representation for those detained.
The order does not stop targeted enforcement in cases where there are warrants, deportation orders and other specific issues.
Anaheim has not seen major enforcement action since July 9.
The federal government has filed for a stay, or a request to pause the order, with a hearing before a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel expected on Monday, July 28.
Several organizations are also plantiffs in the suit, including United Farm Workers, Los Angeles Worker Center Network, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
The state of California is not part of the lawsuit but has offered support to the plaintiffs in what’s known as an amicus brief.
Other cities and counties have opted to seek to join the suit, including Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Culver City, Montebello, Monterey Park and Pico Rivera.
The suit is set for a hearing on a preliminary injunction in September. If granted, a preliminary injunction could extend the conditions of the temporary order as the case progresses.
For more, including timely updates and resources, please see Anaheim.net/contigo.