The US Supreme Court on Monday lifted restrictions on federal immigration agents in Los Angeles, granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) broad authority to stop and detain individuals based on race, language, or type of work. The decision marks a significant victory for the Trump administration, which has pursued mass detention and deportation operations in immigrant communities across the country.
The 6–3 ruling came after the administration appealed a July order by Judge Maame E. Frimpong of the US District Court for the Central District of California, which had barred ICE agents from making stops based solely on race, ethnicity, language, or certain jobs such as day-laborer or farm work. Frimpong wrote that a “mountain of evidence” showed ICE and other federal agents violating the Constitution’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Civil rights attorneys and immigrant advocacy groups, including the ACLU, had filed the original lawsuit after documenting widespread raids across Los Angeles in which both immigrants and US citizens were stopped. The plaintiffs described “indiscriminate immigration operations” in which “individuals with brown skin are approached or pulled aside by unidentified federal agents, suddenly and with a show of force, and made to answer questions about who they are and where they are from.”
Among those plaintiffs was Jason Brian Gavidia, a US citizen, who was seized by masked agents outside a tow yard in June. He later recounted how agents slammed him against a fence and demanded to know what hospital he had been born at, despite his repeated insistence that he was an American. He was released after producing identification.
Another plaintiff, Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, was arrested at a bus stop without a warrant while waiting to be picked up for work. In a statement after the Supreme Court ruling, Perdomo said: “When Ice grabbed me, they never showed a warrant or explained why. I was treated like I didn’t matter—locked up, cold, hungry, and without a lawyer. Now, the supreme court says that’s okay? That’s not justice. That’s racism with a badge.”
The conservative majority of the court did not issue a detailed explanation for the decision, which came through the court’s emergency docket. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion, calling the criteria “commonsense” and arguing that immigration agents should be allowed to consider factors such as English proficiency or type of employment in deciding whom to stop.
In a sharp dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Justice Sonia Sotomayor condemned the ruling. “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,” Sotomayor wrote. In another passage, she added: “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 labor. Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”
Civil rights groups and immigrant advocates immediately denounced the decision, warning it paves the way for sweeping enforcement operations across California and beyond. The ACLU of Southern California called the ruling “a devastating setback.” Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney with the group, said: “In running to the Supreme Court to request this stay, the government made clear that its enforcement operation in Southern California is driven by race.”
The American Immigration Council also raised alarm. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the organization, said that because so many of Los Angeles’s low-income Latino workers are undocumented, the court’s ruling effectively sanctioned racial profiling. He explained that the decision now makes it “inherently acceptable for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to stop and question any Latino working a low-wage job that is seen speaking Spanish.”
Nayna Gupta, policy director at the AIC, added that the ruling “greenlights the worst ICE and [Customs and Border Protection] practices we are seeing against Latino communities around the country. We can expect this racist enforcement to expand rapidly.”
Local officials condemned the ruling in strong terms. California Governor Gavin Newsom warned that “Trump’s private police force now has a green light to come after your family.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said: “This isn’t just an attack on the people of Los Angeles, this is an attack on every person in every city in this country. Today’s ruling is not only dangerous—it’s un-American and threatens the fabric of personal freedom in the United States of America.”
A bipartisan group of Latino elected and appointed officials described the decision as a “troubling setback for civil rights and constitutional protections.” They warned: “The Constitution does not allow Americans to be stopped simply for speaking Spanish, waiting for work, or looking Latino. Reasonable suspicion must be based on evidence, not ethnicity. By siding with the administration, the court has opened the door to profiling practices that will expose millions of Latinos to harassment, wrongful detention, and fear in their daily lives. Whether at bus stops, workplaces, or public spaces, Latino communities will face the risk of being treated as suspects simply because of who they are or what they look like.”
For the Trump administration, the decision represents a legal and political victory. Pam Bondi, the attorney general, celebrated the outcome, calling it a “massive victory” and declaring: “Now, ICE can continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement.”
The administration has repeatedly defended its tactics, insisting that ICE stops are based on unlawful presence rather than race or ethnicity. In its arguments to the court, the Department of Homeland Security said jobs such as landscaping or construction often do not require paperwork and thus can provide “reasonable suspicion” for detentions, particularly when workers speak little English.
For immigrant communities in Los Angeles, however, the ruling has brought renewed fear. The region has already seen ICE raids conducted with militarized tactics, including agents jumping from box trucks at a Home Depot to seize day laborers. The Los Angeles Times has reported that most of those arrested in recent raids had no criminal record.
While the case continues in federal appeals court, the Supreme Court’s intervention allows the Trump administration to proceed with its current enforcement strategy. For residents of Los Angeles, it means that speaking Spanish, holding a low-wage job, or simply having brown skin can once again be treated as grounds for arrest.
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