Civil Plaintiff
A Federal Judge Approves a $14 Million Settlement Over the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Illegal Immigration Holds
A federal judge on Friday approved a $14-million settlement in a class-action lawsuit over the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s past practice of holding people in jail beyond their release dates because of requests from immigration authorities.
The settlement caps a nearly decade-long court battle for people who were held in L.A. County jails illegally for days or months because of pending investigations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Only a part of the settlement — $3.7 million — will go toward the victims. While nearly 20,000 people qualified for relief because they were held unlawfully between October 2010 and June 2014, only 1,166 people filed claims.
