‘Pretty sure he’s wet:’ Immigration agents used racial slurs during LA sweeps, court records show

Court records made public Monday document federal immigration agents using racial slurs during enforcement sweeps in Los Angeles. Body camera footage shows an agent saying 'pretty sure he's wet' about someone they were targeting, and text messages reveal agents directing colleagues using derogatory terms, CalMatters reports. The evidence comes as part of a lawsuit arguing that agents systematically conducted racial profiling, sweeping up citizens and non-citizens alike based on appearance and ethnicity. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement directive from May 2025 instructed field officers to 'turn the creativity knob up to eleven' and arrest more people beyond their original targets. A federal judge ordered agents to turn over cell phones for examination, but only eighty-eight of one thousand four hundred agents have volunteered, and government phones are being reviewed at a pace that would take several years to complete.

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