A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt immigration raids in Los Angeles and several other counties in California, after ruling in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union’s civil rights lawsuit.
“As required by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Defendants shall be enjoined from conducting detentive stops in this District unless the agent or officer has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law,” U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong wrote in her ruling.
The judge determined that federal agents cannot “rely solely” on certain factors when considering whether to make a “detentive stop,” including the “apparent race or ethnicity” of the person in question, whether they are “speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent,” and their “presence at a particular location (e.g. bus stop, car wash, tow yard, day laborer pick up site, agricultural site, etc.).”
In the legal filing, the ACLU and immigrant rights groups claimed that federal agents are violating the Constitution by arresting people solely based on skin color, performing raids without warrants and denying legal counsel to detainees.
“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar said.
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Lawyers for the Trump administration denied the claims during the trial. The U.S. Department of Justice did not comment on whether the federal government would appeal the ruling.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a post to X after Frimpong’s ruling on Friday that “federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the U.S. Constitution.”
“We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and maintain that our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification,” Essayli wrote. “Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the U.S. Constitution.”
In a statement in response to the ruling, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “Justice prevailed today – the court’s decision puts a temporary stop to federal immigration officials violating people’s rights and racial profiling.”
Frimpong issued two temporary restraining orders that prevent immigration agents from stopping people without reasonable suspicion and require the Department of Homeland Security to provide access to counsel for people detained in the downtown L.A. federal building. Frimpong, whom President Biden appointed, criticized the Trump administration in her ruling.
“Roving patrols without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and denying access to lawyers violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Frimpong wrote. “What the federal government would have this Court believe—in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case—is that none of this is actually happening.”
At the center of the federal lawsuit is Montebello man Brian Gavidia, who was detained by immigration agents last month.
“One thing I would like to highlight was the fact that even though after I stated and proved I was American, they took away my phone,” Gavidia said outside the courthouse in Los Angeles on Thursday
Los Angeles, along with seven other cities and L.A. County, joined the ACLU’s lawsuit earlier this week, claiming the immigration raids also violate a Constitutional amendment that protects states’ rights to run their judicial systems.
“Essentially, what the challengers are arguing here isn’t that the Trump administration just lacks the power to enforce immigration law but that they’re doing it the wrong way, and they’re doing it in a way that violates constitutional provisions like the due process clause,” Loyola Law professor Jessica Levinson said.
In addition to the city and county of L.A., the coalition of cities that joined the lawsuit includes Culver City, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Santa Monica and West Hollywood.
One of the attorneys who is representing the municipalities is former U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, whom President Biden appointed.
The lawsuit also claims that ICE operations have cost the cities tens of millions of dollars in expenses, including overtime. Since enforcement actions ramped up on June 6, L.A. County has incurred $9 million in extra costs, stemming from lost tax revenue and law enforcement resources, according to the Office of County Counsel. L.A. County officials likened the economic impact on the region to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since operations began in June, ICE and CBP have arrested 2,792 people in the L.A. area, according to DHS.
