The Justice Department announced Thursday that it’s investigating the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in connection with allegations of discrimination against minority residents of government-subsidized housing in the Antelope Valley, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The probe comes after civil rights lawyers and activists have accused elected leaders in Lancaster and Palmdale of trying to drive out black and Latino residents in the historically white area.
Residents began complaining about surprise inspections of Section 8 housing – or government-subsidized housing – to check that residents met the terms of their assistance. But checks often involved armed sheriff’s deputies, who would return with search warrants if tenants didn’t consent to a check of their home.
Activists allege that authorities tried to intimidated residents.
The department’s civil rights probe will focus on Sheriff’s Department stations in Lancaster and Palmdale, Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told the Times. DOJ investigators will look for a “pattern-and-practice” of misconduct, which generally means there are multiple allegations of civil rights abuses in one area.
“We welcome the investigations. The sheriff has nothing to hide,” Whitmore told the Times.
But this is hardly the first time the area has faced allegations of minority misconduct.
Earlier this year, civil rights attorneys from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sued leaders in Lancaster and Palmdale, saying that up to 200 minority families lost federal housing assistance each year in Antelope Valley after unexpected compliance checks.
But city leaders argued that inspections have increased because of concerns about crime in the area, and Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told the Times that crime tends to “cluster around Section 8 housing.”
