U.S. Supreme Court lifts restrictions on L.A. immigration stops set after agents swept up U.S. citizens

SCOTUS has cleared the way for Trump's hardline immigration approach in L.A., targeting people for deportation based on race or language.

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 U.S. 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 L.A. 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 said 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 in a concurrence.

Dissent says constitutional freedoms threatened

In a stinging dissent joined by her two liberal colleagues, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the decision erodes constitutional freedoms.

“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, with a hearing set for Sept. 24. 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.

U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles had found a “mountain of evidence” that enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. The plaintiffs included U.S. 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 U.S., not skin color, race or ethnicity. Even so, the Justice Department argued that ICE agents can use at least some of those factors in combination with others, and Kavanaugh said apparent ethnicity could be a relevant factor for a stop.

More than 5,000 arrests made

The Department of Homeland Security said last week 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 agency promised in an online post to “continue to FLOOD THE ZONE in Los Angeles” after the high court’s decision.

The region has been top priority for the Trump administration, and its hard-line immigration strategy has spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines.

The number of raids in the L.A. 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 L.A. Home Depot store as the administration carries out the president’s goal of mass deportations.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and border czar Tom Homan both separately applauded the ruling. “Now, ICE can continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement,” Bondi wrote in a social media post.

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.

`I was born here in the States’

The plaintiffs argued that Frimpong’s order only prevents federal agents from making stops that do not align with the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.

Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the Supreme Court decision will fuel aggressive immigration enforcement in other major cities. “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.

Plaintiffs included three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens. One of the citizens was Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a June 13 video being seized by federal agents and pressed against a metal fence with his arm twisted behind his back as he yelled: “I was born here in the States. East L.A., bro!”

A terrified 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.

Democratic leaders in California condemned the decision. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she has directed city departments to follow rules barring the use of municipal resources on federal immigration enforcement. “This isn’t just an attack on the people of Los Angeles. This is an attack on every person in this city, and in every city in this country,” Bass told reporters.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta pointed out the Supreme Court recently ruled that race can’t be considered in college admissions. “They prevent the use of race (in college admissions) to tackle discrimination but allow the use of race to potentially discriminate,” he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a vocal Trump opponent, said the order would allow agents wide latitude to make stops “including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses.”

Plaintiff Pedro Vasquez Perdomo said ICE agents never explained why they stopped him or showed a warrant.

“I was treated like I didn’t matter -- locked up, cold, hungry, and without a lawyer. Now, the Supreme Court says that’s okay?” he said in a statement. “That’s not justice. That’s racism with a badge.”

By Lindsay Whitehurst.

Associated Press writers Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, Calif., Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.