A federal judge on Friday ordered a halt to aggressive immigration law enforcement that has prompted protests and had a destabilizing effect throughout the Los Angeles area for over a month.
On Saturday it was unclear how or if the Trump administration will proceed with ongoing immigration raids and detainments after LA-based U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued two temporary restraining orders. One restricts federal agents’ ability to detain people without reasonable suspicion beyond their race, ethnicity or job, and the other restraining order requires federal authorities to give detainees access to legal counsel.
The ruling was the latest development in Vazquez-Perdomo et al. v. Noem et al., a lawsuit filed July 2 that includes several plaintiffs who are San Gabriel Valley residents along with civil liberties organizations, immigrant rights advocates and a farmworkers union.
The judge’s ruling noted “two questions in controversy that this court must decide today. First, are the individuals and organization who brought this lawsuit likely to succeed in proving that the federal government is indeed conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers? This court decides — based on all the evidence presented — that they are.
“And second, what should be done about it?” Frimpong wrote. “The individuals and organizations who have brought this lawsuit have made a fairly modest request: that this court order the federal government to stop. For the reasons stated below, the court grants their request.”
LA-based U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli blasted the ruling and insisted federal agents have adhered to the law.
“We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and maintain that our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification,” Essayli said in a statement. “Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the U.S. Constitution.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies, also decried the judge’s decision in an X post:
“A district judge is undermining the will of the American people. America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. LAW AND ORDER WILL PREVAIL!”
The White House put out a statement Tuesday defending federal immigration activity.
“The brave men and women of ICE are under siege by deranged Democrats — but undeterred in their mission,” the White House statement said. “Every day, these heroes put their own lives on the line to get the worst of the worst — criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, gangbangers, and other violent criminals — off our streets and out of our neighborhoods.”
It was unclear Saturday if federal officials would will appeal Frimpong’s ruling, or if there would be any change to the enforcement tactics and operations that have been ongoing since June 6.
The lawsuit was filed July 2 in Los Angeles federal court. Plaintiffs include Public Counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union, advocacy groups, United Farm Workers and attorneys representing residents of Pasadena, Baldwin Park and East Los Angeles.
The individuals in the suit allege they were unlawfully stopped or detained by federal agents targeting locations where immigrant workers connect with employers. The suit also contends immigration agents do “roving patrols” and detain people without warrants whether they have actual proof they are in the country legally — two plaintiffs are U.S. citizens.
The lawsuit further alleges federal agencies violated the Constitution by doing unlawful immigration enforcement raids that target people based on agents’ perception of their race and ethnicity, as well as the denial of detainees constitutionally mandated due process.
According to the lawsuit, Homeland Security’s mass deportation program by armed, masked agents is systematic “abducting and disappearing” community members via unlawful arrest tactics, then confining detainees in illegal conditions while denying access to lawyers.
DHS has denied allegations of unconstitutional, illegal activities during enforcement activity.
“Claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE,” according to a department post on social media. “DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence.”
DHS previously stated, “ICE detention facilities have higher standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens. These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement. This garbage has directly led to a nearly 700 percent increase in the assaults on ICE law enforcement officers.”
Public Counsel and ACLU attorneys hailed Friday’s ruling, as did a number of state and local Democrats.
“Justice prevailed today — the court’s decision puts a temporary stop to federal immigration officials violating people’s rights and racial profiling,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
“Stephen Miller’s immigration agenda is one of chaos, cruelty and fear,” Newsom continued. “Instead of targeting the most dangerous people, federal officials have been arbitrarily detaining Americans and hardworking people, ripping families apart, and disappearing people into cruel detention to meet outrageous arrest quotas without regard to due process and constitutional rights that protect all of us from cruelty and injustice. That should stop now.
“California stands with the law, and the foundation upon which our founding fathers built this country,” Newsom added. “I call on the Trump administration to do the same.”
Mayor Karen Bass also responded to the ruling.
“Today, the court ruled in favor of the United States Constitution, of American values and decency — this is an important step toward restoring safety, security and defending the rights of all Angelenos,” Bass said in a statement. “Los Angeles has been under assault by the Trump administration as masked men grab people off the street, chase working people through parking lots and march through children’s summer camps. We went to court against the administration because we will never accept these outrageous and un-American acts as normal.”
Bass’ office noted that the court ruling requires people detained at the Federal Building in downtown LA are entitled to meet with legal counsel “for a minimum number of hours every day and are entitled to have free unrecorded phone calls with their attorneys.”
Earlier this week, Bass and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced that the Los Angeles joined the class action lawsuit seeking to stop the immigration raids, as did LA County, Pasadena, Monterey Park, Montebello, Pico Rivera, Santa Monica, Culver City and West Hollywood.
LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis said Friday’s temporary restraining order “is a vital step toward restoring constitutional protections and putting an end to the unlawful immigration raids that have terrorized communities across Los Angeles County.
“Over the past several weeks, we have seen an alarming pattern of raids conducted by heavily armed and often unidentified agents,” Solis said in a statement. “Many residents, including long-time community members with no criminal records and even U.S. citizens, have been taken from public spaces and workplaces without explanation. They have been effectively disappeared and denied access to due process. These individuals are being targeted solely based on the color of their skin. This is racial profiling — plain and simple. Families are being left without answers, uncertain about the safety and whereabouts of their loved ones.
“This conduct not only violates constitutional rights but has created an environment of fear and instability. Parents are afraid to send their children to school. Workers are avoiding job sites. Small businesses are closing their doors. Patients are forgoing healthcare. Even places of worship have experienced declining attendance as fear spreads. …
“That is why, following a motion I introduced last week, the County of Los Angeles joined the City of Los Angeles, other local jurisdictions, and civil and immigrant rights groups to intervene in a federal class action lawsuit challenging these unconstitutional and reckless raids.
The ruling by Frimpong, a Biden appointee, “confirms what we have known all along: these raids are unlawful and must be stopped,” Solis added.
“The Trump Administration is using federal immigration agents as a tool to instill fear and division in Los Angeles communities,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “In doing so, it is damaging community trust with law enforcement, disrupting Angelenos’ daily lives, and impeding public safety.”
Bonta noted “the troubling use of masks, unmarked vehicles, and plainclothes to cover up immigration agents’ identities — and their own refusal to identify themselves when asked — has made it difficult to distinguish these agents from criminals. Their sweeping stops of Angelenos, based not on any evidence of wrongdoing but instead on racial profiling, is flagrantly unconstitutional. Los Angeles cannot be expected to live like this, with many residents afraid to leave their homes and their civil rights under fire.”
According to Bonta’s office, he led a multistate coalition in a court filing filing last week in support of the plaintiffs in Vasquez-Perdomo v. Noem.
Bonta has also sued the Trump Administration over the President’s illegal order to federalize the California National Guard and redirect hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles.
A copy of the Frimpong’s ruling is on the state attorney general’s website.
