Judge orders Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration
stops, arrests in California
[July 12, 2025]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump
administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in
seven California counties, including Los Angeles.
Immigrant advocacy groups filed the lawsuit last week accusing President
Donald Trump’s administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned
people in Southern California during its ongoing immigration crackdown.
The plaintiffs include three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens,
one of whom was held despite showing agents his identification.
The filing in U.S. District Court asked a judge to block the
administration from using what they call unconstitutional tactics in
immigration raids. Immigrant advocates accuse immigration officials of
detaining someone based on their race, carrying out warrantless arrests,
and denying detainees access to legal counsel at a holding facility in
downtown LA.
Judge Maame E. Frimpong also issued a separate order barring the federal
government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration
detention facility.
Frimpong issued the emergency orders, which are a temporary measure
while the lawsuit proceeds, the day after a hearing during which
advocacy groups argued that the government was violating the Fourth and
Fifth amendments of the Constitution.
She wrote in the order there was a “mountain of evidence” presented in
the case that the federal government was committing the violations they
were being accused of.
The White House responded quickly to the ruling late Friday.
“No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy — that
authority rests with Congress and the President,” spokesperson Abigail
Jackson said. “Enforcement operations require careful planning and
execution; skills far beyond the purview (or) jurisdiction of any judge.
We expect this gross overstep of judicial authority to be corrected on
appeal.”
Communities on edge as administration steps up arrests
Immigrants and Latino communities across Southern California have been
on edge for weeks since the Trump administration stepped up arrests at
car washes, Home Depot parking lots, immigration courts and a range of
businesses. Tens of thousands of people have participated in rallies in
the region over the raids and the subsequent deployment of the National
Guard and Marines.
The order also applies to Ventura County, where busloads of workers were
detained Thursday while the court hearing was underway after federal
agents descended on a cannabis farm, leading to clashes with protesters
and multiple injuries.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the recent wave of
immigration enforcement has been driven by an “arbitrary arrest quota”
and based on “broad stereotypes based on race or ethnicity.”
When detaining the three day laborers who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit,
all immigration agents knew about them is that they were Latino and were
dressed in construction work clothes, the filing in the lawsuit said. It
goes on to describe raids at swap meets and Home Depots where witnesses
say federal agents grabbed anyone who “looked Hispanic.”
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, said in an email that “any claims that individuals
have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are
disgusting and categorically FALSE.”
[to top of second column]
|
People wait outside of Glass House Farms, a day after an immigration
raid on the facility, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Camarillo, Calif.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
McLaughlin said “enforcement operations are highly targeted, and
officers do their due diligence” before making arrests.
After the ruling, she said “a district judge is undermining the will
of the American people.”
ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar said Brian Gavidia, one of the U.S.
citizens who was detained, was “physically assaulted ... for no
other reason than he was Latino and working at a tow yard in a
predominantly Latin American neighborhood.”
Tajsar asked why immigration agents detained everyone at a car wash
except two white workers, according to a declaration by a car wash
worker, if race wasn’t involved.
Representing the government, attorney Sean Skedzielewski said there
was no evidence that federal immigration agents considered race in
their arrests, and that they only considered appearance as part of
the “totality of the circumstances”, including prior surveillance
and interactions with people in the field.
In some cases, they also operated off “targeted, individualized
packages,” he said.
“The Department of Homeland Security has policy and training to
ensure compliance with the Fourth Amendment,” Skedzielewski said.
Order opens facility to lawyer visits
Lawyers from Immigrant Defenders Law Center and other groups say
they also have been denied access to a U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement facility in downtown LA known as “B-18” on several
occasions since June, according to court documents.
Lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said in one incident on June 7 attorneys
“attempted to shout out basic rights” at a bus of people detained by
immigration agents in downtown LA when the government drivers honked
their horns to drown them out and chemical munitions akin to tear
gas were deployed.
Skedzielewski said access was only restricted to “protect the
employees and the detainees” during violent protests and it has
since been restored.
Rosenbaum said lawyers were denied access even on days without any
demonstrations nearby, and that the people detained are also not
given sufficient access to phones or informed that lawyers were
available to them.
He said the facility lacks adequate food and beds, which he called
“coercive” to getting people to sign papers to agree to leave the
country before consulting an attorney.
Friday’s order will prevent the government from solely using
apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an
accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or
someone's occupation as the basis for reasonable suspicion to stop
someone. It will also require officials to open B-18 to visitation
by attorneys seven days a week and provide detainees access to
confidential phone calls with attorneys.
Attorneys general for 18 Democratic states also filed briefs in
support of the orders.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were already barred from
making warrantless arrests in a large swath of eastern California
after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in April.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
