U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a preliminary injunction barring ICE and Border Patrol agents from stopping individuals in Los Angeles and six surrounding counties based solely on perceived Latino appearance or working-class status. Citing a mountain of evidence including body-camera footage, racial slurs, and ignored claims of U.S. citizenship, the court ruled agents must possess reasonable suspicion of immigration violations before detaining people. The Trump administration appealed the decision, while DHS denied profiling claims.
Court evidence of racial profiling
- ▪Body-camera footage and communications presented in court revealed immigration agents using racial slurs during operations, including an agent recorded at a Hollywood Home Depot in June 2025 referring to a individual as wet
- ▪Video evidence submitted to a federal court in Los Angeles recorded an immigration agent instructing colleagues to plug us in wherever you see some tonks and we'll jump out
- ▪Court evidence in the Southern California immigration lawsuit included accounts of Latino U.S. citizens being detained after agents disregarded their citizenship status, including a car wash worker who was denied permission to retrieve his passport
Reactions to the ruling
- ▪Mohammad Tajsar, immigrants' rights director for the ACLU of Southern California, stated that U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong's preliminary injunction recognizes that immigration agents targeted and abducted Latino community members in Southern California through racial profiling
- ▪The Department of Homeland Security denied allegations of racial profiling, maintaining that its agents operate within the law
Scope of the preliminary injunction
- ▪U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong's preliminary injunction exempts ports of entry and border checkpoints from the injunction's restrictions on immigration stops
- ▪U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong's preliminary injunction requires ICE and Border Patrol agents to hold reasonable suspicion, barring stops based on perceived Latino appearance or working-class status
Evaluation of evidence against agents
- ▪U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong wrote that government evidence showing the government trains agents to follow the law cannot defeat evidence that agents do not follow the law in practice
- ▪U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong stated evidence suggested federal agents potentially violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and discrimination through un-targeted patrols and stops based on perceived ethnicity and socioeconomic status in Southern California
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