Charlie Beck
Chief of Police
Los Angeles Police Department
100 West 1st Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
April 26, 2016
Dear Chief Beck,
Thank you for the invitation to meet on Wednesday, April 27, to discuss the relationship between
the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and Los Angeles’ undocumented community.
In advance of the meeting, we would like to identify a few areas of particular concern for us. We
hope that this will allow for a more productive conversation on Wednesday, and that you will be
able to respond to specific questions and recommendations identified below.
1. LAPD collaboration with HSI/ERO in Los Angeles raids
We are concerned about LAPD joint operations with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations
(HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), in which ICE is making collateral
arrests of noncitizens for the purposes of immigration enforcement. These joint operations run
counter to LAPD stated policies and priorities limiting collaboration with ICE.
We are aware that the LAPD has limited its engagement in immigration enforcement through
LAPD’s longstanding Special Order 40. LAPD has reaffirmed such limitations in its policies and
affirmations about LAPD engagement with DHS’ Secure Communities and Priority Enforcement
Program (PEP). However, at the same time, LAPD routinely engages in joint operations with
HSI/ERO that have resulted in ICE and LAPD making collateral arrests, with ICE placing
undocumented LA residents in immigration enforcement proceedings, even where the
individuals are not charged with any crime in connection with the raid in which they were
arrested.
LAPD has justified these actions on the ground that LAPD never technically held the individuals
in custody. However, in at least two recent instances we are following closely, the raids resulted
from LAPD search warrants; LAPD officers participated in the raids; and the individuals were
brought to LAPD police stations prior to ICE placing them in removal proceedings.
One woman, Isabel Mejia, was placed in removal proceedings as a result of an LAPD/HSI/ERO
joint raid in which more than forty people were transferred to a police station by LAPD and
HSI/ERO. Ms. Mejia has four children under the age of 14 in Los Angeles, was detained for
more than four months, and was released after an immigration judge found that her life or
freedom would be threatened if she were returned to Mexico. Another woman remains detained
and at risk of deportation as a result of such a raid. Others have surely been deported.
These ICE-LAPD actions that involve collateral arrests for immigration enforcement purposes

 alone further terrorize the undocumented community in Los Angeles. Special Order 40 limits the
use of LAPD resources in immigration enforcement and is built on the “principle that effective
law enforcement depends on a high degree of cooperation between the Department and the
public it serves.” Without the establishment of appropriate limits on the use of such raids for
immigration enforcement, these raids appear to conflict with the stated purpose of Special Order
40.
With this concern in mind, we make the following requests:
! Please provide information about (1) the number of people affected by LAPD/HSI/ERO
joint operations, (2) details of the operations, (3) the contours of the collaborations
between LAPD and HSI/ERO; and (4) what limits, if any, guide such collaborations.
! Please commit to a meeting with affected individuals and families, including Isabel
Mejia, who was recently released from more than four months of detention following an
LAPD/HSI/ERO raid, and the family members of another woman who remains detained.
! Please commit to ensure that LAPD engage in joint operations with ICE only where there
is a pre-existing agreement that ICE cannot make any collateral arrests for immigration
enforcement purposes.
! Please commit to providing an official statement from LAPD clearly defining the limits
of LAPD collaborations with ICE and Department of Homeland Security in immigration
enforcement.
2. Policing street vendors
As you know, Los Angeles is one of the only major cities in the United States with a complete
criminal ban on street vending. The City Council is currently considering proposals to adopt a
permitting system. However, the LAPD’s aggressive enforcement of the ordinance criminalizing
street vending in Los Angeles hampers the ability of the city to consider concrete solutions
regarding this issue and, in the interim, results in convictions that can jeopardize the ability of
some street vendors to obtain, or maintain, lawful immigration status.
Given that the City appears on the verge of reform, we ask that LAPD make the following
commitments:
! Please commit to instruct officers not to arrest, issue citations to, or take other
enforcement actions against street vendors while the City Council is considering plans to
legalize street vending in Los Angeles.
! Please commit to actively support ongoing efforts to create an inclusive, citywide permit
program for sidewalk vending in Los Angeles.
3. ICE holds
It is our understanding that LAPD policy is to not hold individuals beyond the time they would
otherwise be released from LAPD custody on an ICE detainer and that LAPD does not provide
ICE notification of release times in order to facilitate transfer to ICE.

 ! Please clarify your notification and detainer policy, including whether or not LAPD is
facilitating in-custody transfer to ICE or otherwise allowing ICE to apprehend individuals
inside LAPD jails and holding facilities.
! Please also clarify whether LAPD provides ICE with advance notification of individuals’
release dates/times and/or home addresses in response to ICE notification requests or
otherwise.
! Please clarify whether ICE has access to LAPD databases that contain information about
individuals’ release dates/times and/or home addresses.
We look forward to the meeting on Wednesday.
Sincerely,
ICE Out of LA Coalition
Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California
California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA)
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)
Enlace
Familia
Immigrant Youth Coalition (IYC)
LA Voice
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON)
National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) – Los Angeles
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) – Los Angeles
Public Counsel
UCLA Labor Center
Union del Barrio