Two Muslim women who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest at UC Irvine in May 2024 sued the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD). The women filed a lawsuit against the deputies for allegedly forcibly removing their hijabs during their arrests.
The lawsuit, filed on June 30, claims that the OCSD and Sheriff Don Barnes violated the women’s constitutional rights when they forcibly removed their religious headscarves in public and photographed them without their hijabs. According to the women, those photographs have been further disseminated in public, violating their religious and cultural rights.
The plaintiffs, Salma Nasoordeen, 22, and Shenai Aini, 26, claim deputies ripped off their hijabs during their arrests at UCI and then forced them to remove them again in front of male staff at the Santa Ana Intake Release Center (IRC). The plaintiffs are currently being represented by the Greater Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) and the Asian Law Caucus (ALC).
“The county government not only were negligent, intentionally inflicted emotional distress, violated the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberties and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, but also failed to train rank and file deputies in their own policy,” claimed the plaintiffs on July 1, 2025.
ALC Chief Strategy Officer Belinda Escobosa characterized the incident as “a profound violation of their right to religious freedom.” Escobosa supports the lawsuit seeking justice for the women.
“It [the lawsuit] also seeks systemic change — because no woman, of any faith, should ever be forced by those sworn to uphold the law to choose between her religion and her dignity,” Escobosa said.
Plaintiff Nasoordeen claims that while she was participating in a peaceful protest on campus, her hijab was ripped from her head and stomped on by a deputy before removing her from campus during her arrest. She said it caused her humiliation and emotional distress as her uncovered hair was revealed to the public and the media.
Plaintiff Aini called the incident “an attack not only on myself, but every Muslim woman,” describing it as “a sense of power and humiliation by the OC Sheriff’s Department.”
OCSD rejected the claims made by Nasoordeen and Aini. According to Carrie Braun, a spokesperson for the OC Sheriff Department, it was “only when women were present at the time” that Aini and Nasoordeen were required to remove their hijabs.
In a previous media statement concerning similar incidents, the department indicated booking procedures must comply with identification and security protocols, though accommodations for privacy and gender matching are outlined in official protocol.
OCSD previously implemented a policy requiring female-only deputies to be present for the removal of religious head coverings following a similar lawsuit in 2007, involving a Muslim woman who was forced to remove her hijab in the presence of male officers during booking. The 2007 lawsuit led to a settlement for new guidelines requiring same-gender deputies and private settings for searches involving religious attire.
The lawsuit is currently pending in federal court, and no hearing date has been scheduled.
Hahmjun Yohan Do is a News Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. He can be reached at hahmjund@uci.edu.
Edited by Joshua Gonzales and Jeralynn Querubin