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The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to continue carrying out immigration raids in California after advocacy groups argued that federal authorities were stopping suspected illegal immigrants without a valid reason.
The high court’s 6-3 decision, issued along ideological lines, is temporary while the case proceeds in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
It came after a federal judge in July blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting raids in Los Angeles County, finding the plaintiffs likely would succeed in their argument that the raids violated the Fourth Amendment. The Ninth Circuit upheld that order, leading the Trump administration to turn to the Supreme Court.
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The Supreme Court’s order is a major victory for the Trump administration as it enacts an aggressive deportation agenda across the country. California, one of four major southern border states, saw high-profile protests and riots crop up over the summer in response to ICE’s raids and the National Guard, which Trump deployed to Los Angeles in June at the objection of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The immigrant rights groups and labor unions who sued alleged that ICE was stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion. ICE authorities unconstitutionally showed up at farms and car washes and targeted people based on their race and language, the plaintiffs alleged.
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The Supreme Court’s majority did not include an explanation, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, offered a concurring opinion in which he said that the reasonable suspicion requirement was not a high bar and that ICE could have very well met that bar. A combination of factors, including race, could provide authorities with reasonable suspicion to stop a person and inquire about their immigration status, Kavanaugh said.
“To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors,” Kavanaugh wrote.
The Department of Homeland Security celebrated the emergency decision on Monday in a statement, saying it would not allow Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, to protect illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.
“A win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law,” a DHS spokesperson said. “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.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement ICE would now be able to continue “roving patrols” without “judicial micromanagement.”
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Obama appointee, filed a dissent, saying the emergency order greenlighting the raids was “troubling” because the majority gave no explanation for the move, which she said was “unconscionably irreconcilable” with the Constitution.
“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.
The American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups challenging the Trump administration, claimed the high court was sanctioning racial profiling.
“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,” Cecillia Wang, an ACLU national legal director, said, adding that her organization would continue its legal fight in the Ninth Circuit.
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