The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed suit against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for illegal raids against Mexicans who were believed to be illegal immigrants, but were actually targeted based solely on their Mexican ethnicity:

Federal immigration agents conducted illegal searches and relied on racial and ethnic profiling while carrying out a massive series of raids that terrorized residents of several towns in southeast Georgia in early September. . . The lawsuit charges that ICE agents illegally detained, searched and harassed Latinos solely because of their appearance -- in violation of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights -- during an extensive campaign to drive them out of the area. . . .

Bauer said hundreds of residents were traumatized by the raids. “Many children continue to live in fear that they will be taken away by immigration officials merely because of the color of their skin,” she said. . . . Another plaintiff, Ranulfo Perez, was standing outside of his home in Adrian, in Emanuel County, when he was suddenly surrounded by approximately 15 men holding guns. One of the men grabbed Perez by the shirt, jammed his gun into his side and threw him against his truck.

The agent twisted Perez’s arm behind his back and held him that way for 10 minutes while other agents searched his home and property. The agent then suggested Perez and his family should leave the area for two weeks to avoid any more such incidents.

Alas, we have more evidence that racial profiling is alive and well in America today. Whether it’s Black drivers being stopped by police at obviously disproportionately rates, or Arab and Muslims Americans being pulled off airline flights, or Mexican Americans suspected of being illegal immigrants, racial profiling seems to be as American as mom and apple pie these days.

I don’t know why I’m still surprised to read about these kinds of blatantly racist incidents against people of color -- they’re so commonplace these days that I should be numb to them by now.