Los Angeles’ mayor and leaders from several immigrant rights groups on Monday denounced the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow federal immigration agents to racially profile people in Southern California, calling it a blow to civil rights.
“The Supreme Court ... has now given the green light for law enforcement to profile and detain Angelenos based on their race,” Mayor Karen Bass told reporters outside the Home Depot in the Westlake district.
“We will not stand for this type of discrimination and racism.”
The high court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to lift a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong that barred government agents from engaging in “roving patrols” and detaining people based on their appearance.
The court said federal immigration officers can briefly detain and interrogate people about whether they are in the U.S. legally, relying on a “totality of circumstances” standard for reasonable suspicion.
The justices voted, 6-3, in favor of letting the immigration operations continue as they did in early summer.
Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, called Monday a sad day. He’s one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case.
“Today is a loss for people’s dignity, for people’s rights, for people’s security and safety,” he said.
But the decision to stay Frimpong’s order is not the final word on the matter.
The Supreme Court ruling focused solely on the temporary restraining order. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to rule on a request from immigrant rights groups for a preliminary injunction to bar federal agents from racially profiling people.
A hearing on that matter is scheduled for later this month.
About the lawsuit
Starting in early June, immigration agents in masks and unmarked cars have conducted dozens of sweeps at car washes, day laborer centers, farms and elsewhere as part of President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations.
The raids have instilled widespread fear in immigrant communities, with some people too afraid to go to work or even leave their homes.
In July, the ACLU of Southern California, Public Counsel and other groups sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alleging the sweeps violated the U.S. Constitution. They were seeking a halt to the raids.
In the lawsuit, the immigrant rights groups claimed “individuals with brown skin” were being stopped randomly by federal agents in violation of the Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.
“These are warrantless, lawless and aggressive, often violent actions against a whole people simply because of the color of our skin, the language we speak, where we work, where we live,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, at the Monday news conference.
“No local police officer would be allowed to get away with what these officers are getting away with,” she added.
Armando Gudino, executive director of the L.A. Worker Center Network, said the Supreme Court showed bias in its decision.
“By siding with the Trump administration, this court majority has revealed itself as highly prejudicial and has further empowered authoritarianism in this country,” he said.
What the justices said
In a written opinion, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh offered his reasoning for the lifting of restrictions on immigration agents and the circumstances they face.
According to Kavanaugh, those circumstances include:
- That there is an extremely high number and percentage of undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area.
- That those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work.
- That those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to people without authorization to work.
- That many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English.
“To be clear,” he continued, “ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered with other salient factors.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion: “We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job.”
Activists call the decision ‘shameful’
Many of the activists who spoke at the news conference said the decision by the Supreme Court was “shameful” but not surprising.
“We cannot depend on our legal system,” said Flor Melendrez, executive director of the CLEAN Car Wash Worker Center. She said 81 car washes have been raided since early June and 247 workers have been detained.
Melendrez urged people to do more to support undocumented workers.
“It is not enough to do a video and post it on social media,” she said. “It is also important to collaborate and to bring resources to those on the front lines.”
Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network called the decision “repulsive, violent and abhorrent.”
“When you undermine the civil rights of those who are most vulnerable, you undermine the civil rights of everyone else,” he said.
The 9th Circuit is scheduled to hear arguments on the preliminary injunction request Sept. 24.
