Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said ICE agents using a box truck as a ‘Trojan Horse” before a raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles was likely “entrapment” and a violation of the Constitution.
Reporter Priscilla Alvarez said, “The court ordered that the mayor was referencing is one that blocked the Trump administration from indiscriminately arresting and conducting these immigration raids in Los Angeles. So this is likely to come up in that court case. Penske, the company of the moving truck, also reacting to this, saying they were not made aware that their truck was going to be used, but again, this is the epicenter of the aggressive enforcement operations and ones that are continuing to happen.”
Host Jake Tapper said, “Presumably the undocumented immigrants that were in that parking lot were day laborers looking for work, which happens all over the country, yes?”
Alvarez said, “That’s correct.”
Tapper asked, “Senator, what do you make of this operation, Trojan Horse?”
Blumenthal said, “It is a Trojan Horse operation that may involve entrapment, a violation of the Constitution, and, as was mentioned by Mayor Bass, also potentially a violation of the court order. But it involves a question of fundamental fairness. Here’s a government agency luring people who are. Seeking work with a Penske truck and a straw hat on the dashboard, and then ICE agents coming out of the truck, bundling out of the truck, and then seizing these people who may be fully documented. They have no probable cause to arrest them. So there are serious legal questions involved here.”
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