Trump administration asks Supreme Court to lift temporary ban on roving immigration stops in L.A.

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to lift a temporary restraining order that blocked “roving” immigration stops in Los Angeles and eight other California counties. 

In an emergency appeal, the federal government argued the order poses a significant barrier to enforcing federal immigration laws. The request for a stay is filed on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, so oral arguments are not likely. 

An attorney for the plaintiffs in the initial suit — a coalition of civil rights, immigrant rights, and local government agencies — said they look forward to arguing the case before the high court. 

“The federal government has now gone running to the Supreme Court asking it to undo a narrow court order—applicable in only one judicial district—that merely compels them to follow the Constitution.” said Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued the temporary restraining order last month in the Central District of California, citing “a mountain of evidence” that the government’s aggressive enforcement tactics likely violated people’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. 

Trump’s Solicitor General, D. John Sauer argued in the filing with the high court that Frimpong’s order puts a “straitjacket” on agents and “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws … by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop of suspected illegal aliens.” 

Frimpong ruled federal immigration authorities could not rely on four factors for reasonable suspicion: race, ethnicity, language, and location or employment; either solely or in combination. 

‘A racial profiling case’

“This is basically a racial profiling case: Can Latinos be shaken down in their communities and where they live because they look Latino?” Kevin R. Johnson, the director of Aoki Center on Critical Race and Nation Studies at UC Davis School of Law, said Thursday in response to the administration filing. 

Starting in early June, heavily armed agents, often in masks and plain clothes or military-style uniforms, aggressively detained immigrants and U.S. citizens using heavy wartime equipment at Home Depots, car washes, and Latino markets across Los Angeles. Agents often filmed the arrests and shared the videos on social media, set to hip hop music. The Trump administration vowed to bring similar actions to cities across the nation, especially in blue states.  

The federal government’s appeal to the Supreme Court follows a denial from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week to lift the temporary restraining order. 

Multiple legal cases involving Trump’s immigration policies have already reached the Supreme Court, including the government’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans accused of being gang members. The Supreme Court lifted a lower court’s temporary restraining order that had blocked those deportations. Many of the high court’s rulings, especially on immigration issues, have sided with the administration in recent months. 

“I think it’s not surprising that if you’re having some wins in the courts through appeals, you bring appeals,” said Johnson, who noted both Democrat and Republican administrations have used the appeal strategy. 

Prior to the temporary restraining order, Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino, the leader of the LA operations, carried out military-style raids across large swaths of Los Angeles. Calmatters and Bellingcat mapped out over 100 locations of raids including 15 separate Home Depots.  

After the lower court’s order, he moved operations northward to the state’s capital. 

‘No sanctuary anywhere’

“There is no sanctuary anywhere,” Bovino said after a July 17 raid at a Home Depot in Sacramento. “We’re here to stay. We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to affect this mission and secure the homeland.” 

Frimpong’s restraining order did not entirely stop immigration enforcement in Los Angeles. 

On Wednesday, heavily armed Border Patrol and other federal agents hid inside a Penske truck before jumping out and ambushing people at a Home Depot in an operation dubbed “Trojan Horse.” 

In a written statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Border Patrol agents conducted a “targeted raid” at the Home Depot that “resulted in the arrests of 16 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua.”

Johnson of UC Davis said at least the federal government is pursuing a legal avenue to continue its actions, but if the temporary restraining order is lifted, it could cause “real damage” in the LA community. 

“These roving patrols are terrifying communities,” Johnson said. “It’s going to have an impact on whether people are going to take their kids to school and whether people can take their kids to the doctor.”