What to Know
- The Supreme Court issued a decision Monday that lifts restriction on tactics used during immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.
- The restraining order handed down in July barred agents from using certain tactics during the raids, such as stopping people based solely on race, language, job or location.
- The Trump administration argued the restraining order wrongly restricted agents from carrying out its sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who sided with the conservative majority in Monday’s decision, questioned whether the tactics violate the Constitution.
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful searches and seizures, in her rebuke of the conservative majority’s decision.
- A lawsuit, filed by immigrant advocacy groups, from which the restraining order stemmed will now continue to make its way through the courts.
The Supreme Court lifted a restraining order granted by a judge and cleared the way for federal agents to carry out sweeping immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.
The high court’s 6-3 decision handed the Trump administration a victory in its mass deportation effort, a campaign promise that has included months of federal immigration operations in Los Angeles at car washes, home improvement store parking lots and other locations. The restraining order granted July 11 by U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles barred agents from using certain tactics during the raids, such as stopping people based solely on race, language, job or location.
Citing a “mountain of evidence,” Judge Frimpong’s restraining order targeted tactics used by federal agents that she said were in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The restraining order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by U.S. citizens who were swept up in the raids, which intensified in early June.
An appeals court ruling in August left Frimpong’s order in place, which led the Trump administration to turn to the Supreme Court. The administration argued the order wrongly restricted agents from carrying out its crackdown on illegal immigration.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a rebuke of the Supreme Court ruling that lifts restrictions on immigration enforcement operation tactics. She cited the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful searches and seizures.
“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent,” Sotomayor wrote.
Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined Sotomayor in dissenting.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who sided with the conservative majority in Monday’s decision, took issue with whether the tactics violate the Constitution. Kavanaugh, nominated by President Trump in 2018, said Los Angeles’ large population of undocumented immigrants “tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work,” frequently work in construction-related jobs and may not speak English.
“Whether an officer has reasonable suspicion depends on the totality of the circumstances,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Here, those circumstances include: that there is an extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants; and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English.
“To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors.”
Several Los Angeles-area immigration enforcement operations have targeted day laborers at Home Depot stores, including one over the weekend in Hollywood and another during which agents jumped out of the back of a rented box truck and made arrests.
“I think the Supreme Court’s decision gives the ability and the authority for ICE agents to go to car washes and construction sites and look at the color of people’s skin or their ethnicity, whether or not they’re speaking Spanish or speaking in an accent, and to at least have a conversaTion about that person’s immigration status,” said Prof. Jessica A. Levinson, of Loyola Marymount University. “I don’t think you can look at this as anything other than a win for the executive branch, a win for the Trump administration, a win for ICE agents who are saying, how else are we supposed to enforce immigration law?”
In the Trump administration’s court filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said that speaking Spanish and working in construction alone does not create reasonable suspicion, but “can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States.”
The Supreme Court’s decision comes as immigration enforcement agents also step up activity in Washington amid Trump’s unprecedented federal takeover of the capital city’s law enforcement and deployment of the National Guard. LA became a battleground over immigration enforcement tactics after raids in early June led to protests, some of which turned violent.
A lawsuit over the tactics filed by immigrant advocacy groups will now unfold in the courts system. The plaintiffs included U.S. citizens swept up in immigration stops.
A federal district court will hear arguments Sept. 24 on whether to issue a preliminary injunction in the case, according to the ACLU.
“This decision is a devastating setback for our plaintiffs and communities who, for months, have been subjected to immigration stops because of the color of their skin, occupation, or the language they speak,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. “In running to the Supreme Court to request this stay, the government made clear that its enforcement operation in Southern California is driven by race. We will continue fighting the administration’s racist deportation scheme to ensure every person living in Southern California—regardless of race or status—is safe.”
The plaintiffs argued that Frimpong’s order only prevents federal agents from making stops without reasonable suspicion, something that aligns with the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.
“Numerous U.S. citizens and others who are lawfully present in this country have been subjected to significant intrusions on their liberty,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. “Many have been physically injured; at least two were taken to a holding facility.”
The Trump administration said the order was too restrictive, “threatening agents with sanctions if the court disbelieves that they relied on additional factors in making any particular stop.”
Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement following the ruling.
“I want the entire nation to hear me when I say this isn’t just an attack on the people of Los Angeles, this is an attack on every person in every city in this country,” Bass said. “Today’s ruling is not only dangerous – it’s un-American and threatens the fabric of personal freedom in the United States of America.
“Today, the highest court in the country ruled that the White House and masked federal agents can racially profile Angelenos with no due process, snatch them off the street with no evidence or warrant, and take them away with no explanation. This decision will lead to more working families being torn apart and fear of the very institutions meant to protect – not persecute – our people.
“Let me be clear: we will not allow the White House, nor the Supreme Court, to divide us. And to all Angelenos, I will never stop fighting for your rights, your dignity, and your safety, despite this administration’s efforts to threaten them. We will stand united.”
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the Supreme Court’s stay of the restraining order a necessary step for public safety.
“A win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law,” McLaughlin said. “DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom referred to deputy White House chief of staff in his statement criticizing the ruling.
“Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles,” Newsome said. “This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws — it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses. Trump’s private police force now has a green light to come after your family — and every person is now a target — but we will continue fighting these abhorrent attacks on Californians.”
Through August, nearly 61,000 migrants had been taken into ICE detention since the start of President Trump’s second term, according NBC News, which used ICE data both public and internal as well as data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. About 30% of those in detention had criminal convictions; 25% had pending criminal charges; 45% were listed as “other immigration violator;” and 11.6% were fast-tracked for deportation.
California is home to 10.6 million immigrants, more than any other state, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. More than 2.6 million undocumented immigrants live in California, according to a 2024 Department of Homeland Security report that relied on data from 2022. The figure is likely higher.
Most of the state’s immigrant population is in large coastal counties, like Los Angeles County, where about 3.5 million people — or about 35 percent of the county’s population — are immigrants, according to the 2024 State of Immigrants in Los Angeles County report from the USC Dornsife research institute. There are about 809,000 undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles County, which has a population of 9.6 million, according to the report.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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