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By G. A. McNeeley
September 14, 2025 (Los Angeles) -- The Supreme Court has lifted restrictions that had barred the Trump administration from carrying out immigration-related raids in the Los Angeles area based on broad criteria, such as speaking Spanish or gathering at locations where day laborers often congregate, according to POLITICO.
The justices, divided 6-3 along ideological lines, put on hold a federal district judge’s order that had reined in what critics called “roving” raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That judge found that the tactics were likely unconstitutional, because agents were detaining people without probable cause at car washes, bus stops and Home Depot parking lots based on stereotypes.
Immigrant rights and civil liberties advocates accused federal officers of stopping Latinos solely because they were speaking Spanish or present at home improvement store parking lots or car washes. With nearly half the population in L.A. of Hispanic origin, such a broad-brush approach is certain to sweep up many U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, POLITICO reported.
The ruling also raises the potential for other groups beyond Hispanics to be targeted in the future.
What is happening in Los Angeles area?
The Supreme Court’s decision stems from a lawsuit challenging the tactics used in a series of aggressive immigration sweeps in the LA area. Plaintiffs argued that federal agents were targeting people without reasonable suspicion, violating the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful searches and seizures, according to The Guardian.
The order by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong barred agents in the Central District of California from making such stops without reasonable suspicion that the person being stopped is in the United States illegally, according to SCOTUSblog.
Frimpong added that reasonable suspicion, cannot rest solely on any combination of four factors: “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking in Spanish or accented English, being present at a location where undocumented immigrants “are known to gather,” and working at specific jobs, such as landscaping or construction.
The Trump Administration questioned the legal right of the challengers to sue and said Judge Frimpong improperly elevated The Fourth Amendment’s “low bar” for reasonable suspicion for searches and seizures, according to USA TODAY.
The Justice Department told the Supreme Court that “reasonable suspicion to stop suspected illegal aliens will necessarily encompass a reasonable broad profile.”
Lawyers for the challengers said numerous U.S. citizens and other people who are in the country legally have been harmed -- including people who suffered serious physical injuries -- and people who are afraid to leave their homes, according to USA TODAY.
“The government’s extraordinary claim that it can get very close to justifying a seizure of any Latino person in the Central District because of the asserted number of Latino people there who are not legally present is anathema to the Constitution,” they told the Supreme Court. “And, more generally, the Court has made clear that reasonable suspicion cannot arise from facts that would describe broad swaths of the law-abiding population.”
The arrests and detainments in Southern California began in early June, which sent shock waves through the region, triggering lawsuits and protests. Trump responded by deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to L.A., and a federal judge in California ruled last week that it violated a 19th-century law barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities, according to NBC News.
Ruling is not the final say
While this decision allows immigration agents to resume patrols that use race as a factor, it’s not the final say on the matter. A federal judge will hold a hearing this month on whether to reimpose permanent protections, while the case makes its way through the lower courts, according to The Guardian.
Supreme Court Justices Weigh In
In a blistering dissent on behalf of the court’s three liberals, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Supreme Court majority’s decision “is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket,” according to USA TODAY.
“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. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent."
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative Trump appointee, cited Los Angeles’ large undocumented population and wrote in the decision that race can be a “relevant factor,” alongside other “common sense” indicators. He mentioned employment in landscaping, agriculture or construction and limited English proficiency, when forming a “reasonable suspicion” to interrogate individuals about their immigration status, according to The Guardian.
L.A. and California Political Leaders Criticize Ruling
During a news conference, near a Home Depot in a Latino neighborhood in L.A., Mayor Karen Bass assailed the decision, saying that the supreme court “has now given the green light for law enforcement to profile and detain Angelenos based on their race,” according to The Guardian.
“I agree with her -- I dissent,” Bass added, referring to Sotomayor’s words “We all dissent because from the beginning, we have known that Los Angeles has been used as a test case for total dominance and unchecked power by the federal government.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom sharply criticized the ruling by what he referred to as "Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority,” in a statement, according to ABC News. "This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws -- it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses," Newsom said.
"Trump's private police force now has a green light to come after your family,” Newsom added. “But we will continue fighting these abhorrent attacks on Californians."
In a press release emailed to ECM, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-California) stated. “The Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Trump Administration to continue detaining people based on whether they ‘look’ like an immigrant is offensive and an affront to the Constitution.”
Padilla added, “Let me be clear: nearly half of the people in and around Los Angeles are Latino. That means that nearly half the Californians living in this area now fit the administration’s racial profiling criteria. And this is all coming within a system in which ICE and DHS agents are still wearing masks. People have no way of knowing whether or not they’re interacting with a real government official, and have no way to hold those officials accountable for abuses of power.”
“They’re running kids out of parks in armored vehicles and tactical gear, and shoving people into unmarked cars. Wrongfully detaining disabled teenagers. U.S. Citizens. Veterans. People are terrified. And now the Supreme Court is further enabling this attack on Californians, giving authorities free rein to stop, detain, and even deport anyone just for being Latino, often without due process,” Padilla added.
But Padilla promised, “This fight is not over. There’s still time for the Courts to end this racist policy and protect the basic freedoms of Americans and immigrants alike.”
Immigration experts and advocates weigh In
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the high court’s action “disappointing,” and said that The Supreme Court’s acceptance of the use of race as a factor in immigration enforcement was in tension with the court’s decision two years ago ruling out the use of race to promote diversity in college admissions, according to POLITICO.
“How they prevent the use of race to tackle discrimination, but allow the use of race to potentially discriminate is troubling and it is disturbing,” Bonta added.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) legal director Cecillia Wang, representing groups who sued to block indiscriminate raids in L.A., said the Supreme Court order “puts people at grave risk,” according to The Independent.
“For anyone perceived as Latino by an ICE agent, this means living in a fearful ‘papers please’ regime, with risks of violent ICE arrests and detention,” Wang added.
Angelica Salas, a longtime immigrant rights activist and head of the LA-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, gestured towards an apartment building where residents peered down from their windows. “They’re the ones who have been witnesses to all sorts of attacks,” she said, according to The Guardian.
“We will continue fighting,” Salas added. “We will continue despite a lack of protection.”
Flor Melendez, executive director of CLEAN Car Wash Worker Center (a labor advocacy nonprofit), said that "No matter what the decision was today, we will continue to stand strong,” according to NBC News. "This decision does not push us back. It brings our community forward, and we need to see that."
Melendez also said that 81 car washes have been targeted by federal agents, and 250 car wash employees have been detained since the sweeping immigration enforcement began in June.
Activists Organize
After the crackdown began, immigrant rights advocates moved swiftly to create a coalition of dozens of activist groups with hundreds of volunteers who fan out at Home Depots, car washes and other locations that have become enforcement targets, according to NBC News.
The volunteers post arrests and detainments on social media, warn workers when federal agents are nearby, and host "know-your-rights" workshops for citizens and undocumented residents.
Activist groups are also flooding social media with posts urging people to remain on high alert and join private groups on mobile apps that can’t be easily monitored or infiltrated, according to NBC News.
Trump Administration Hails Ruling
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on X that “DHS law enforcement will continue to FLOOD THE ZONE in Los Angeles.”
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said on X that the ruling is “a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law.”
"DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor," McLaughlin added.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that “ICE can continue carrying out roving patrols in California without judicial micromanagement.”
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/08/supreme-court-ice-raids-ruling-00550551
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/09/supreme-court-immigration-los-angeles-reaction
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25A169/369163/20250807171848424_Perdomo_Stay_Appl.pdf
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/25a169_5h25.pdf
https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1965096915319902465
https://x.com/TriciaOhio/status/1965087046218985820
https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1965092503423521044
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