When Peter and Benjamin Bratt grew up in San Francisco's Mission district in the 1970's, it was a neighborhood of Native American and Latino activists, low rider cars, Peruvian flute players, and vibrant murals that related the local history.

California has ramped up the use of sobriety checkpoints to target intoxication and crack down on unlicensed drivers. But its policy of seizing vehicles is under fire both for targeting undocumented immigrants and for generating an estimated $40 million in…