A Sacramento assemblymember has sued the Department of Homeland Security after federal immigration agents allegedly threatened to break into a North Natomas law office at 3 a.m. and then stonewalled her attempts to get records about the encounter. Assemblymember Maggy Krell filed the federal lawsuit after about a month of trying to find out what happened when armed ICE agents showed up at the Morris Law Group in August, demanding to tour the building for beds.
A Records Fight Lands in Federal Court
Krell filed her Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, naming the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants, according to court records reviewed by PacerMonitor. The case, numbered 2:26-cv-03349, follows ICE's decision to administratively close her public records request rather than search for the files she sought. As The Sacramento Bee reports, Krell is asking the court to order DHS to comply immediately with her request for records on the agents and agencies involved in the August 14 operation.
The dispute traces back to the morning armed agents showed up at the Morris Law Group office in four unmarked vehicles with tinted windows. Per the Bee's reporting, an ICE officer entered the firm's front lobby and requested to tour the office for beds, and agents were turned away after failing to produce a warrant. They remained in the parking lot for roughly 45 minutes, and an agent reportedly told a law firm employee that agents could return at 3 a.m. and break windows to get inside. Neighboring dental practice staff told ABC10 that armed agents parked outside the building and ignored public inquiries during the encounter.
Why the Address Mattered
Morris Law Group owner Raissa Morris has practiced immigration law for 14 years and represents more than 2,000 immigrants, many of whom use the firm's North Natomas address as an official mailing address while applying for crime-victim protections such as U-visas, T-visas and Violence Against Women Act petitions, per the same outlet's reporting. Attorneys routinely let vulnerable clients use firm addresses as safe mailing contacts, which is why federal records would have listed the office as a point of contact at all. DHS has said the officers left after learning the location was a law firm, and that agents believed the address was a target for undocumented immigrants, per DHS. The Sacramento Bee notes the building has the firm's name in large bold letters on both sides.
The timing of the incident is no accident, according to immigration advocates. In January 2025, the federal administration rescinded longstanding DHS “sensitive locations” guidelines that had restricted civil immigration enforcement at places like law offices, courthouses, schools and houses of worship, according to the National Immigration Law Center. Those guidelines had limited warrantless enforcement at legal and social service sites for more than a decade before being pulled.
A Paper Trail That Led Nowhere
Krell sent her FOIA request seeking information, communications and records tied to the August 14 operation, but ICE responded on September 2 that the request was not sufficiently specific for a focused and reasonable search, per the Bee. The agency asked her to identify the ICE directorate, office, unit, operation name or case number involved. Krell responded a week later with a clarified request that included a timeframe, the communications systems to be searched and eight search terms.
Three days after that clarification, ICE administratively closed the request anyway, saying it could not identify which records should be searched and objecting that the request would require identifying personnel involved and searching their devices and communication accounts. Krell argues the information ICE demanded is within the agency's own possession and that the public has no reasonable way to know those details itself. Under the federal Freedom of Information Act, agencies are legally required to conduct reasonable searches and help requesters refine their parameters before closing a request for lack of specificity, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“ICE is running roughshod over constitutional rights,” Krell said, according to the Bee's report, adding that she would use every legal tool to protect Sacramento residents. DHS did not respond to the Bee's request for comment on the lawsuit.
Senators and Other Immigration Concerns
The August confrontation drew swift pushback from Washington. U.S. Senator Adam Schiff publicly called the threatened forced entry “unacceptable,” arguing federal agents chose to threaten violence against a law practice based on the community it represents, according to Diario Libre. Schiff and Senator Alex Padilla sent a letter to DHS demanding a federal investigation and requested responses by September 11, according to the Bee. Edgar Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Padilla, said DHS had not responded to the senators' request.
The John Moss Federal Building has also been the site of demonstrations and an assault outside the building.
Part of a Larger Local Standoff
The North Natomas incident landed amid rising friction between Sacramento and federal immigration authorities. In January, the Sacramento City Council proposed barring ICE from municipal property for enforcement actions, part of a broader push by local officials to restrict federal operations on city land.
Krell is a California assemblymember. Local, state and federal elected leaders have continued to question why ICE would attempt to search the Natomas office without a judicial warrant, and immigration law firm offices like Morris Law Group hold confidential client information and routinely serve as mailing addresses for people, especially crime victims, who rely on attorneys to safeguard their legal correspondence.
