The Trump administration on Thursday afternoon asked the Supreme Court to block a ruling by a federal judge in Los Angeles that bars federal agents from conducting immigration stops in Los Angeles and central California without reasonable suspicion that the person whom they are stopping is in the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law. In particular, the order prohibits government agents from relying on any combination of four factors – “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking in Spanish or accented English, presence at a location where undocumented immigrants “are known to gather,” and working at specific jobs, such as landscaping or construction – as the basis to stop suspected undocumented immigrants.
The order by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices, “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop of suspected illegal aliens.”
The government’s request has its roots in an immigration enforcement effort that began in the Los Angeles area in June, and which some federal officials have described as the “largest Mass Deportation Operation” in U.S. history. In response,