US Court blocks indiscriminate immigration raids in California

A United States federal appeals court has upheld an earlier order blocking immigration agents from randomly stopping and detaining people across California without reasonable suspicion.

The ruling, delivered late Friday by a three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, rejected the federal government’s push to overturn a temporary order halting what critics have described as “racially motivated roving patrols” in Los Angeles and nearby areas.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups and California residents who accused federal immigration agents of profiling and harassing innocent people, many of whom were legal residents or citizens, based on their race, language, or place of work.

District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong had earlier slammed the brakes on the controversial patrols, saying the actions clearly violated constitutional protections against unreasonable seizures.

She noted that immigration agents were targeting people simply for speaking Spanish, having accents, or working in areas perceived to employ undocumented workers. In her ruling, she stated that the detentions were largely “based on race alone.”

One of the plaintiffs, Jason Gavidia, a US citizen born and raised in East Los Angeles. was reportedly arrested on June 12 outside a tow yard in Montebello. According to the court, agents wielding military-style rifles confronted Gavidia and questioned his citizenship despite him repeatedly stating, “I am an American.”

They allegedly ignored his responses, seized his ID and mobile phone, and never returned the ID.

The government had attempted to justify its patrols, claiming that businesses like car washes were being targeted because they “likely” employ undocumented migrants. But rights groups countered that the method of operation was unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Los Angeles has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, with ICE raids reported at car parks, bus stops, shops, and farms. The President had also ordered the deployment of 2,000 troops to the state in June to clamp down on mounting protests against the raids.

Tensions escalated earlier this summer when agents clashed with demonstrators in the Compton area, firing flash-bang grenades and shutting down parts of the freeway during a wave of enforcement actions.

Reacting to the court’s decision, Mohammad Tajsar of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California called it a victory for civil rights:

“This decision is further confirmation that the administration’s paramilitary invasion of Los Angeles violated the Constitution and caused irreparable injury across the region. We look forward to holding the federal government accountable for these authoritarian horrors it unleashed in Southern California.”

Rights advocates hailed the judgment as a step towards reining in what they describe as unchecked abuses by federal immigration authorities.