Federal Court Grants TRO in Los Angeles Area ICE Roving Patrols, Indiscriminate Stops, and Racial Profiling Case
It was a busy immigration easy last night. I received this message from Public Counsel:
“We have breaking news to share: this evening, a federal court ruled in our favor, issuing two Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs) against the Trump administration’s unlawful immigration raids and denial of access to counsel in Southern California. The rulings establish that the federal government’s actions likely violated the Constitution and must immediately stop.
The first TRO prohibits immigration agents from stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion, including based on race or ethnicity, language, location, or type of work. The second TRO requires the Department of Homeland Security to provide access to counsel for individuals detained at B-18, a holding site in the basement of the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, where many have been held in cruel and coercive conditions without adequate food, hygiene, or even beds.
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This significant legal victory represents a critical milestone in the landmark class action lawsuit we filed last week that challenges the federal government’s unconstitutional stop-and-arrest practices and the denial of due process rights to our community members. Public Counsel represents five individual residents and four advocacy organizations—The Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef). We are joined by our pro bono co-counsel Hecker Fink LLP, the ACLU of Southern California, CHIRLA, ImmDef, UC Irvine School of Law Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic, and other immigration and civil rights groups and attorneys. This week, eighteen states led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an amicus brief in support of our lawsuit, and the City and County of Los Angeles, along with seven additional Southern California cities, moved to joined our case—underscoring the extraordinary unity and support behind our case.” Here and here are news summaries of the ruling. Fox News reported on the court ruling as follows: “A federal judge in Los Angeles late Friday issued a sweeping temporary restraining order (TRO) against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ruling that the agency likely violated constitutional protections through its immigration enforcement practices in California. In a 53-page order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, a Biden appointee, barred ICE from conducting detentive stops in the Central District of California unless agents have “reasonable suspicion” that a person is in the country unlawfully. Frimpong’s ruling explicitly prohibits ICE from relying solely on race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, location, or type of work when forming suspicion, citing the Fourth Amendment. The order also requires ICE to keep and turn over detailed records of each stop and agents’ reasoning for them, develop official guidance for determining “reasonable suspicion,” and implement mandatory training for agents.” UPDATE (July 14): The Los Angeles Times reports that the Trump administration today asked the court of appeals to immediately allow immigration agents to resume “raids across Southern California, arguing that a federal judge’s order barring unconstitutional stops and arrests is akin to a `straitjacket’ on its operations. . . . The order granted Friday night by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong `is inflicting irreparable harm by preventing the Executive from ensuring that immigration laws are enforced,’ Department of Justice lawyers wrote in a motion asking for an emergency stay. `These harms will be compounded the longer that injunction is in place.’ Government lawyers argued Frimpong’s injunction was a first step to placing immigration enforcement under judicial monitorship and was `indefensible on every level.’ They asked the higher court to pause the order while the appeal is heard.” KJ |