Key facts
- ICE agents used racial slurs, including 'tonks' and 'wet', in text messages during immigration operations in Los Angeles.
- The slurs were revealed in court documents filed as part of a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
- The lawsuit alleges unlawful stop and arrest practices by ICE agents during Los Angeles raids.
- Lawyers for the plaintiffs are seeking to bar future detentions based on race or socioeconomic status.
- One plaintiff stated he felt targeted by ICE agents due to his darker skin tone.
- Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, citing a 'migrant invasion'.
Newly released court documents indicate that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents used racial slurs in text messages during immigration operations in the Los Angeles area last summer. One agent, on July 4, 2025, texted about "tonks everywhere selling food," using an anti-immigrant slur that the U.S. Border Patrol has previously cautioned against. In messages from July 2, 2025, another agent wrote about people posting on social media that they were "wet," a slur often used for undocumented Mexicans crossing the Rio Grande.
The slurs were made public in a motion filed for a lawsuit brought by five men in June 2025, who allege that ICE agents' stop and arrest practices during Los Angeles raids were unlawful. Their lawyers are asking a federal judge to prohibit further detention stops based on race or socioeconomic status. Three of the plaintiffs were arrested while waiting at a bus stop for work, and a fourth, a U.S. citizen, reported being physically handled by masked immigration agents.
Maya Joachin, deputy director of immigrants' rights at the ACLU foundation of Southern California, stated the records show a "pattern of racial profiling" and that officers "flagrantly violat[e] the law." Angel Santiago Tafolla, a U.S. citizen, declared in a court filing that ICE agents swept through his workplace, handcuffing him before realizing he was American, and suggested he was chased because he is a "darker-skinned Latino."
During a December deposition, an ICE officer leading a bus stop operation described individuals loitering for work as "older Hispanic males" who were flagged as possibly undocumented. The raids faced significant backlash from local officials. Tensions escalated when Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, citing a need to "liberate" the city from a "migrant invasion." A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department stated that agents "are focused on protecting the American people – not entertaining performative outrage."