A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from carrying out indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in seven California counties, including Los Angeles.
US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong — an appointee of former President Joe Biden — found that “roving patrols” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were unlawfully targeting individuals for arrest in the Central District of California absent “reasonable suspicion” that they were in the US illegally.
“The factors that defendants appear to rely on for reasonable suspicion seem no more indicative of illegal presence in the country than of legal presence — such as working at low-wage occupations such as car wash attendants and day laborers,” Frimpong wrote in her 52-page ruling.
“That is insufficient and impermissible.”
The judge determined that agents had detained people based on their location, line of work, apparent race and whether they spoke Spanish or with an accent.
Frimpong’s ruling allows the Trump administration to continue immigration enforcement operations so long as officials do not “rely solely” on those factors “alone or in combination, to form reasonable suspicion for a detentive stop, except as permitted by law.”
“As required by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Defendants are 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 US immigration law,” she wrote.
The Trump administration vehemently denied the allegations in the lawsuit, brought by immigrant advocacy groups on behalf of detained migrants and two US citizens who were stopped by ICE.
“We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and maintain that our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification,” California Central District US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on X.
“Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the US Constitution,” he noted.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Associated Press that “any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.”
“Enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence” before making arrests, she added.
The order also applies to Ventura County, where 200 migrants were arrested Thursday during a chaotic raid of a cannabis farm that saw protesters hurl rocks at law enforcement and one farm worker die from a 30-foot fall from a greenhouse roof.
McLaughlin told The Post Friday night that the worker — identified by family as Jaime Alanís — wasn’t being pursued by federal authorities when he climbed onto the roof of a greenhouse and fell.
Frimpong also ordered the Trump administration to allow detained migrants access to legal counsel seven days a week — at least eight hours per day on weekdays and four hours per day on weekends.
She further demanded that phones be made available to detainees, at no cost to them, so they can contact legal representation.
