Los Angeles Federal Immigration Arrest Ban Upheld by US Appeals Court
The US Supreme Court has upheld an order prohibiting federal immigration officials from making arrests at courthouses in Los Angeles.
On Friday, a federal appeals court maintained a lower court’s ruling that temporarily prohibits federal agents from conducting unjustified arrests in Los Angeles connected to immigration.
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s three-judge panel denied the Trump administration’s request to halt the restraining order. The plaintiffs, according to the judges, are likely to demonstrate that arrests were being made based on people’s appearance, language, or whereabouts rather than any legitimate reason.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in June alleging that federal agents were used racially biased tactics to fulfill immigration arrest quotas, which led to the ruling. Along with a number of other Southern California towns, the city of Los Angeles filed the lawsuit, which claims that agents violated prisoners’ rights to legal representation and engaged in illegal activities including racial profiling.
In June, President Donald Trump used US Marines and National Guard troops to reinforce civilian police activities in Los Angeles in response to protests over the immigration raids. This was an extraordinary use of military personnel on American soil.
The administration was prohibited by a California judge last month from denying detainees access to attorneys and from designating deportation targets based on race or ethnicity.
In their unsigned decision on Friday, the Ninth Circuit judges agreed with the lower court that federal agents cannot detain people based only on their race or ethnicity, their use of Spanish or accented English, or their presence in specific areas like car washes, bus stops, tow yards, day laborer pickup sites, or agricultural areas.
The decision elicited no immediate response from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security.
The ruling was hailed as a civic triumph by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “For the time being, the Temporary Restraining Order that has been shielding our communities from immigration agents’ use of racial profiling and other unlawful methods in their harsh and violent enforcement raids and sweeps will continue to be in effect,” she said in a statement.
The ruling was also hailed by Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. He stated, “This ruling is additional evidence that the administration’s paramilitary invasion of Los Angeles violated the Constitution and caused irreversible harm throughout the region.”
