The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a major victory on Monday, greenlighting his push for tougher immigration enforcement in Los Angeles. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court lifted a lower-court injunction that had barred federal agents from conducting raids without what the judge had called “reasonable suspicion.” With that order gone, Trump’s record-setting deportation efforts are back on track.
The liberal justices predictably fumed in their dissent, warning of supposed risks to “constitutional freedoms,” blah, blah blah. But the conservative majority was having none of that garbage. For now, immigration agents can resume their sweeping operations while the case winds through the courts—a clear sign that Trump’s agenda won’t be derailed by activist judges.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in Monday’s decision that the lower court’s restraining order went too far in restricting how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could carry out stops or questioning of suspected unlawful migrants.
“To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion,” he wrote. “However, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors.”
The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices issued a strong dissent penned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote that “countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labour.”
“Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities,” she wrote.
The decision undoes a ruling by US District Judge Maame E Frimpong in Los Angeles, who had said that there is a “mountain of evidence” showing the raids were violating the US Constitution.
Back in July, Judge Frimpong tried to hamstring immigration enforcement by ordering Trump’s raids halted. His ruling claimed the administration couldn’t rely on “apparent race or ethnicity” or “speaking Spanish” as grounds for questioning someone. He even barred agents from acting based on whether individuals were found at bus stops, farms, or car washes—places long known as hubs for illegal labor.
The order, crafted to appease immigration activists, accused officers of running “roving patrols” and floated the idea that their actions violated the Fourth Amendment. But on Monday, the Supreme Court wasn’t buying it. The justices ruled 6-3, that Trump’s policies stand a strong chance of being upheld as constitutional, clearing the way for raids to continue.
Trump’s crackdown began in June with large-scale raids in Los Angeles at places like Home Depot and other worksites. Predictably, activists launched protests that quickly spiraled into unrest. Trump responded by deploying nearly 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines after California’s Democrat leadership refused to act.
This ruling is more than just a win for Trump—it’s a crushing humiliation for Gavin Newsom. The California governor spent weeks smugly touting the lower court injunction as proof that Trump had been reined in by the courts. He mocked the president, framing the lower-court order as a permanent roadblock to ICE enforcement, like this post on X that didn’t age well at all:
Now, with the Supreme Court’s decisive smackdown, Newsom is left looking foolish and powerless. His big talking point has evaporated overnight, replaced by the hard reality that Trump’s immigration agenda is moving forward stronger than ever.
More at:
US Supreme Court Backs Trump on Los Angeles Immigration Raids
The United States Supreme Court Monday delivered President Donald Trump a big win permitting immigration enforcement agents to continue with sweeping raids based on race and language.
The court put a hold on a lower court decision blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement from proceeding with such raids, Reuters reported:
The U.S. Supreme Court again backed President Donald Trump‘s hardline immigration approach on Monday, letting agents proceed with Southern California raids targeting people for deportation based on their race or language in a decision that a dissenting justice said makes Latinos “fair game to be seized at any time.”
The court granted a Justice Department request to put on hold a judge’s order temporarily barring agents from stopping or detaining people without “reasonable suspicion” that they are in the country illegally, by relying on race or ethnicity, or if they speak Spanish or English with an accent, among other factors. The administration quickly vowed to continue “roving patrols.”
In August, SCOTUS Blog explained the nuances in the legal case and reported:
Lawyers for immigrants’ rights groups, U.S. citizens, and undocumented immigrants challenged the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts in the Los Angeles area, and urged the Supreme Court to leave in place a ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong that prohibits federal agents from making immigration stops unless they have reasonable suspicion that the person whom they are stopping is in the country illegally. And in determining whether they have reasonable suspicion, Frimpong emphasized, agents cannot rely on any combination of four factors – “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking in Spanish or accented English, presence at a location where undocumented immigrants “are known to gather,” and working at specific jobs, such as landscaping or construction.
Representing the Trump administration, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices last week that Frimpong’s order puts “a straitjacket on law-enforcement efforts.”
Notably, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer contended that the challengers lack a legal right to sue, known as standing, because there is no reason to expect that they will be targeted by immigration raids in the future.
While the legal case will continue, ICE is allowed to continue its immigration raids.
More at:
More Stories
Postal Service won’t deliver mail ballots for states that don’t hand over voter lists, under plan for Trump directive
Spencer Pratt loses LA mayor’s race as Nithya Raman surges through to runoff after massive dump of ballots
Election Integrity Concerns Mount in California As Excruciatingly Slow Vote Counting Continues