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The affected immigrants will receive between $250 and $25,000, depending on the time they were detained.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) must pay US$14 million in monetary damages to over 18.500 migrants who were illegally detained at its facilities.
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The case is a warning for all U.S. law enforcement agencies, which continue to detain immigrants without proper warrants.
"Law enforcement agencies act as if basic protections do not apply to us," said an immigrant who was in jail for 70 days in 2012.
The settlement results from a class-action lawsuit against Los Angeles County by immigrants who were unlawfully detained without a court order.
����Central American migrants traveling through Mexico on their way to the US, are forced to sleep rough as shelters are closing and reducing their operations due to a surge in COVID-19 infections in recent weeks. pic.twitter.com/VqVhYeaAG4
— ©halecos Amarillosᴳᴸᴼᴮᴬᴸ ��ʷAͤNͣOͬNͤYˡMͤOᵍUͥSͦⁿ (@ChalecosAmarill) February 4, 2021
"This settlement holds the Sheriff's Department accountable for thousands of unlawful imprisonments and its unconstitutional policies," concluded Lindsay Battles, another case's attorney.
The ruling benefits immigrants who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between Oct. 2010 and June 2014, said the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU SoCal).
The Immigrant's Rights Center (CDM), McLane, Bednarski & Litt law firm, and ACLU SoCal will assist all potential beneficiaries who contact them, especially those living in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Ecuador.
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