Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Trump’s administration to resume sweeping immigration enforcement stops in the Los Angeles area for now as part of the president’s campaign to carry out mass deportations of people in the U.S. unlawfully.
The high court agreed to freeze a district court’s temporary restraining order that prevented federal immigration authorities from stopping people in Southern California without reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. unlawfully. That order barred officials from relying solely on certain factors like a person’s race or occupation as the basis for a detentive stop.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit largely rejected the Trump administration’s request to pause the district court’s order. The Justice Department then sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the injunction issued by the district court hampered the ability of immigration authorities to enforce the nation’s immigration laws in Los Angeles and put them at risk of violating its order during routine investigative stops.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
“That decision is yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket,” Sotomayor, joined by Kagan and Jackson, wrote of the majority’s move. “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. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”
In response to the Supreme Court’s order, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said “we look forward to full vindication on this front in short order, but in the meantime, the Trump Administration will continue fulfilling its mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens.”
The Department of Homeland Security praised the court’s move, calling it a “win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law.”
“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,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said, referring to the mayor of Los Angeles.
