On Monday, September 8, 2025, the Supreme Court granted an emergency request from the Trump administration, overturning the L.A. Judge, Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong’s order that prohibited roving patrols from taking people off the streets by racial profiling in Los Angeles, California.
Racial profiling is when law enforcement or security personnel discriminate against a person or group for stops, searches, or suspicion based on their race, ethnicity, or language they speak, rather than on their actual behavior or evidence of criminal activity.
This gives ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) permission to detain or stop anyone they assume to be here illegally. According to the American Immigration Council, ICE is targeting Latinos and people who work at low-income job sites, and then they demand their papers or proof of citizenship.
Congressman Salud Carbajal, who is a representative of all of Santa Barbara County, part of San Luis Obispo County, and a segment of Ventura County, commented on the I.C.E. raids in California, “And let me be clear: these militarized ICE raids are not how you keep our communities safe. This kind of chaos only traumatizes families and tears communities apart. They are also a gross misuse of limited resources and a betrayal of the values that define us as Americans.”
According to our Fourth Amendment right, ICE may not stop someone unless they suspect there is criminal activity, but ICE deportation data from January 20 to July 28, 2025, shows that ICE has made more than 16,000 street arrests of immigrants with no criminal convictions, charges, or removal orders. The Fourth Amendment states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” This applies to all U.S. citizens and all non U.S. citizens.
A quote from the 1950 Supreme Court case Johnson v Eisentrager states, “But once an alien lawfully enters and resides in this country, he becomes invested with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution to all people within our borders.” According to the American Immigration Council, all people in the United States have a constitutional right to due process, which is when the government gives accused people the chance to defend themselves in court before they are convicted of a crime.
According to ABC.com, throughout the beginning of June, many anti-ICE protests were started, which led President Trump to send the National Guard and increased military support to Los Angeles. BBC News states that this action by Trump was illegal because “it violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the power of the federal government to use military force for domestic matters.” Though the National Guard is present, this does not stop residents from exercising their constitutional right to protest. Governor Gavin Newsom of California said, “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty”.
