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WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations for now in Los Angeles, the latest victory for President Donald Trump’s administration at the high court.
The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate stops in and around LA. The order had barred immigration agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location. The court’s 6-3 decision followed a pattern of at least temporarily allowing some of the Republican administration’s harshest policies, while leaving room for the possibility of a different outcome after the legal case plays out fully. The net effect, meanwhile, has Trump pushing ahead in many of the areas he considers most critical.
The majority did not explain its reasoning, as is typical on the court’s emergency docket. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested the lower-court judge had gone too far in restricting how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can carry out brief stops for questioning. “The prospect of such after-the-fact judicial second-guessing and contempt proceedings will inevitably chill lawful immigration enforcement efforts,” he wrote.
Dissent cites ‘indignities’
In a stinging dissent joined by her two liberal colleagues, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said many stops had not been brief or easy. “Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor,” she wrote. “Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”
Kavanaugh, for his part, suggested stops in which agents use force could yet face legal challenges.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes as ICE agents also step up enforcement in Washington as part of Trump’s unprecedented federal takeover of the capital city’s law enforcement and deployment of the National Guard.
The lawsuit will now continue to unfold in California. It was filed by immigrant advocacy groups that accused the Trump administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people during his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration in the Los Angeles area.
US District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles had found a “mountain of evidence” that enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. The plaintiffs included US citizens swept up in immigration stops. An appeals court had left Frimpong’s ruling in place.
Federal attorneys have said immigration officers target people based on illegal presence in the US, not skin color, race or ethnicity. Even so, the Justice Department argued that the order wrongly limited the factors that ICE agents can use when deciding who to stop.
More than 5,000 arrests made
The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that authorities had made 5,210 immigration arrests since June 6 and praised the work of its lead commander there, Gregory Bovino, whose “success in getting the worst of the worst out of the Los Angeles region speaks for itself.”
The Los Angeles region has been a battleground for the Trump administration after its hard-line immigration strategy spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines. The number of immigration raids in the LA area appeared to slow shortly after Frimpong’s order came down in July, but recently they have become more frequent again, including an operation in which agents jumped out of the back of a rented box truck and made arrests at an LA Home Depot store.
The plaintiffs argued that Frimpong’s order only prevents federal agents from making stops that align with the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.
Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the decision would fuel aggressive immigration enforcement in other major cities and constrain lower-court judges.
“The Supreme Court majority makes clear that average non-white workers are targets, and it functionally gives its stamp of approval for Trump to trample their bedrock constitutional rights,” he said.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer countered that the order was too restrictive in an area the Trump administration considers a top priority as it carries out the president’s goal of mass deportations.
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the Supreme Court decision as a “massive victory” in a social media post. “Now, ICE can continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement,” she wrote.
The order from Frimpong, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, barred authorities from using factors like 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 for detention. It had covered a combined population of nearly 20 million people, nearly half of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino.
‘East LA, bro!’
Plaintiffs included three detained immigrants and two US citizens. One of the citizens was Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a June 13 video being seized by federal agents as he yelled, “I was born here in the States. East LA, bro!”
Gavidia was released about 20 minutes later after showing agents his identification, as was another citizen stopped at a car wash, according to the lawsuit.