Charlotte, North Carolina - The Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection are named in a new lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of a pattern of unlawful arrests in North Carolina.

"In recent months, armed, masked Department of Homeland Security ('DHS') agents have roamed the streets of Charlotte, Durham, Raleigh, and other areas in North Carolina, detaining and arresting people indiscriminately, without following the basic standards required by federal law," reads the class-action lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.

"These operations are causing severe harm to North Carolina communities, particularly children," the complaint states. "Many Latino North Carolinians, regardless of immigration status, have been afraid to leave their homes to retrieve basic necessities, like prescriptions or groceries, due to a fear of being racially profiled and arrested by DHS agents."

Democracy Forward, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice filed the lawsuit on behalf of five individuals allegedly arrested by DHS agents without probable cause to believe they are legally removable and pose a flight risk.

In December, CBP said over 425 people had been arrested in what the Trump administration dubbed "Operation Charlotte's Web." The deployment sparked large public protests calling for an end to the raids.

"When armed, masked agents are breaking car windows, handcuffing people without probable cause, and dumping them on the side of the road, that is not law enforcement, it is lawlessness," Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement.

"Federal agencies do not have the authority to sweep up people in America – whether they are US citizens, lawful residents, or anyone else – without legal justification," Perryman continued.

"This case is about restoring basic guardrails on government power and ensuring that federal officers follow the law they are sworn to uphold."