WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court has lifted a restraining order that prevented federal agents from conducting roving patrols to detain migrants across Los Angeles.
This decision temporarily upholds a practice that critics argue constitutes racial profiling against Latino communities.
The unsigned order from the court’s conservative majority did not provide reasons for the decision, though the three liberal justices dissented.
The case remains active in lower courts and may return to the Supreme Court for further consideration.
The ruling reverses a lower court’s requirement that agents must have specific reasons beyond speaking Spanish or gathering in casual work areas to make arrests.
California Governor Gavin Newsom immediately condemned the decision as a targeted attack on the state’s diverse population.
He stated that Trump’s Supreme Court majority had effectively endorsed racial terror in Los Angeles through this ruling.
Newsom emphasised that this policy targets Latinos and anyone who does not fit Stephen Miller’s vision of an American identity.
The controversy began earlier this year when masked, heavily armed agents started targeting people at home improvement stores, car washes, and farms around Los Angeles.
These operations sparked weeks of mostly peaceful protests throughout the city.
Critics noted that the raids frequently detained US citizens and legal residents alongside undocumented immigrants.
Even after the initial stay order was issued, agents continued to test the boundaries of enforcement authority.
In one notable incident last month, ICE agents conducted a “Trojan Horse” raid using a rented moving truck outside a Los Angeles home furnishings store.
Fox News journalists embedded with the agents filmed the operation as they emerged from the truck’s rear.
A three-judge panel had previously denied a government appeal to overturn the original restraining order last month.
Rights groups had successfully argued that the raids appeared to target individuals primarily based on racial characteristics.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion noting that illegal immigration remains particularly prevalent in the Los Angeles area.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Latina justice, authored a strong dissent against the majority decision.
She argued that the Constitution does not permit creating second-class citizenship based on ethnic appearance or language. – AFP