Some Siskiyou County Asian Americans who were cited or fined after allowing water trucks to fill on their properties and be distributed elsewhere, in violation of a county zoning ordinance, are calling out the county officials’ enforcement of the rule as race discrimination, according to a legal action filed by several landowners of Hmong decent that is winding its way through U.S. District Court.

On Oct. 25, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Kimberly Mueller tentatively ruled that four Asian American plaintiffs listed in a lawsuit filed against Siskiyou County and the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office will be harmed without a preliminary injunction halting use of the zoning ordinance.

In the order, Mueller wrote that “the court tentatively concludes this is a case of potentially ‘extreme’ and ‘very serious damage’ in which a mandatory injunction is likely necessary to ensure people have water for their basic needs.”