Immigration sweeps by the Trump administration forestalled due to appellate court order maintaining prohibition against arbitrary deportations
In a significant ruling, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a temporary restraining order that blocks Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from making warrantless stops and arrests in parts of Southern California based on race, language, occupation, or location. This decision marks a significant blow to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics, particularly the "roving patrols" that targeted people in locations like car washes or hardware stores without individualized reasonable suspicion 13.
The court agreed that the use of broad profiles—such as apparent ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, certain work types, or being near particular locations—did not provide reasonable suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment to justify stops and arrests. Judge Jennifer Sung, a Biden appointee, stated that those factors only form a "broad profile" and don't satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard to stop someone 14.
The government argues that immigrant advocates did not present enough evidence to prove an official policy of stopping people without reasonable suspicion. However, the federal government was also questioned by the judges over their arguments, and the government claimed that it hadn't been given enough time to collect and present evidence in the lawsuit 1.
Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a video being seized by federal agents. The lawsuit included three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens as plaintiffs 1. The temporary restraining order was issued by Judge Maame E. Frimpong on July 12 1.
The ruling restricts the Trump administration’s ability to enforce immigration law through warrantless sweeps in Southern California that rely on racial or employment-based profiling, requiring enforcement to be based on individualized reasonable suspicion instead 1.
The government cannot use factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone's occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion to detain someone. The ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar stated that the federal government's actions could lead to a world where a U.S. citizen can be grabbed, slammed against a fence, and have his phone and ID taken from him just because he was working at a tow yard in a Latino neighborhood 1.
In her order, Judge Frimpong stated that there was a "mountain of evidence" that federal immigration enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution 1. Immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California 1.
Federal agents are arresting immigrants during mandatory check-ins, as ICE ramps up enforcement following immigration court hearings. However, the court's decision maintains a block on these methods, preventing ICE from continuing such arrests while the case proceeds 14.
Judge Sung, in questioning the government's arguments, asked, "What is the harm to being told not to do something that you claim you're already not doing?" 1. Sung also notes that in areas like Los Angeles, where Latinos make up as much as half the population, those factors "cannot possibly weed out those who have undocumented status and those who have documented legal status." 1
- This ruling in the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, restricting the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics, has made it clear that broad profiles such as ethnicity, speaking a language with an accent, certain occupations, or being near specific locations do not satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard for stops and arrests, as per the Fourth Amendment in policy-and-legislation.
- The general news regarding the ongoing immigration lawsuit in Southern California has shown that the federal government was questioned over its arguments by Judge Jennifer Sung, a Biden appointee, who stated that factors like ethnicity, language, occupation, or location only form a "broad profile" and do not meet the reasonable suspicion standard to stop someone, according to policy-and-legislation.
