US under Trump: Supreme Court Paves the Way for Racial Profiling
The majority conservative Supreme Court is granting federal authorities greater leeway in monitoring immigrants allegedly lacking permanent legal status.
The U.S. Supreme Court clears the way for President Donald Trump's administration to further expand its anti-immigration policies. On Monday, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court voted to rescind a preliminary injunction in California granting federal authorities greater leeway in monitoring immigrants allegedly lacking permanent legal status.
The preliminary injunction, related to immigration enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, California, had barred authorities from stopping individuals solely on the basis of their appearance, workplace, location or language.
In a 6–3 decision, the justices of the Supreme Court ruled that these restrictions went too far. As is customary in emergency proceedings, the six justices did not provide an official explanation for their decision. Only conservative Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained his reasoning. According to him, it was simply “common sense” that ICE agents would stop individuals based on their appearance and question them about their immigration status.
What he failed to mention was that this could lead to racial profiling, by which individuals are targeted and potentially discriminated against based on their ethnicity. This could lead to a two-tier society, especially in a metropolis like Los Angeles, where more than half the residents are of Latin American descent. Kavanaugh also stated that immigration document checks for individuals with legal residency status would be “typically brief.”
Threat to Civil Liberties
“Moreover, as for stops of those individuals who are legally in the country, the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to the immigration officers that they are U.S. citizens or otherwise legally in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote. This view is contradicted by first-hand accounts from recent weeks and months. Time and again, reports surface of U.S. citizens being arrested during immigration raids and held for more than 24 hours until being released.
The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court, who dissented from the majority, stated that the decision would undermine the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
“Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor. Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities," Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.
Validation for Trump's Administration
The Supreme Court's decision is validation for the Trump administration, which intends to tighten immigration controls in the coming days and weeks. Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the Supreme Court's decision as a “massive victory,” in a statement posted on X.
ICE agents are now permitted to use individuals’ appearance as justification for conducting checks in the Greater Los Angeles area. Even though the justices overturned the lower court’s preliminary injunction, the constitutionality of the enforcement method remains undecided. The legal dispute over the matter is set to continue. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the enforcement agency ICE, announced that more than 5,200 people had been arrested in the Los Angeles area since June 6.
Civil liberties groups have strongly condemned the directive: “The Supreme Court’s order is outrageous because it includes no reasoning itself but puts on hold the well-reasoned opinions of the lower federal courts. We will continue to fight in this and other cases for our fundamental right to live our lives without being targeted by government officials based on racial profiling," said Cecillia Wang, national legal expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.*
Operation ‘Midway Blitz’ Announced
Just hours before the Supreme Court decision was announced, the DHS declared it would launch a new immigration enforcement operation called “Midway Blitz.” The aim is to remove criminals lacking permanent legal status from Chicago and the state of Illinois.
According to the official statement, the ICE operation is aimed at criminals lacking permanent legal status who flocked to Chicago and Illinois with the belief that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s sanctuary policies would shield them and permit unrestricted movement within the United States.
For weeks, Trump had been threatening Chicago, and Illinois’ Democratic Gov. Pritzker, with a possible deployment of National Guard troops to combat crime in the city. It remains unclear whether the president intends to move forward with his plan.
*Editor’s Note: This quote, though accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
The U.S. Supreme Court clears the way for President Donald Trump's administration to further expand its anti-immigration policies. On Monday, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court voted to rescind a preliminary injunction in California granting federal authorities greater leeway in monitoring immigrants allegedly lacking permanent legal status.
The preliminary injunction, related to immigration enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, California, had barred authorities from stopping individuals solely on the basis of their appearance, workplace, location or language.
In a 6–3 decision, the justices of the Supreme Court ruled that these restrictions went too far. As is customary in emergency proceedings, the six justices did not provide an official explanation for their decision. Only conservative Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained his reasoning. According to him, it was simply “common sense” that ICE agents would stop individuals based on their appearance and question them about their immigration status.
What he failed to mention was that this could lead to racial profiling, by which individuals are targeted and potentially discriminated against based on their ethnicity. This could lead to a two-tier society, especially in a metropolis like Los Angeles, where more than half the residents are of Latin American descent. Kavanaugh also stated that immigration document checks for individuals with legal residency status would be “typically brief.”
Threat to Civil Liberties
“Moreover, as for stops of those individuals who are legally in the country, the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to the immigration officers that they are U.S. citizens or otherwise legally in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote. This view is contradicted by first-hand accounts from recent weeks and months. Time and again, reports surface of U.S. citizens being arrested during immigration raids and held for more than 24 hours until being released.
The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court, who dissented from the majority, stated that the decision would undermine the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
“Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor. Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities," Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.
Validation for Trump's Administration
The Supreme Court's decision is validation for the Trump administration, which intends to tighten immigration controls in the coming days and weeks. Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the Supreme Court's decision as a “massive victory,” in a statement posted on X.
ICE agents are now permitted to use individuals’ appearance as justification for conducting checks in the Greater Los Angeles area. Even though the justices overturned the lower court’s preliminary injunction, the constitutionality of the enforcement method remains undecided. The legal dispute over the matter is set to continue. The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the enforcement agency ICE, announced that more than 5,200 people had been arrested in the Los Angeles area since June 6.
Civil liberties groups have strongly condemned the directive: “The Supreme Court’s order is outrageous because it includes no reasoning itself but puts on hold the well-reasoned opinions of the lower federal courts. We will continue to fight in this and other cases for our fundamental right to live our lives without being targeted by government officials based on racial profiling," said Cecillia Wang, national legal expert at the American Civil Liberties Union.*
Operation ‘Midway Blitz’ Announced
Just hours before the Supreme Court decision was announced, the DHS declared it would launch a new immigration enforcement operation called “Midway Blitz.” The aim is to remove criminals lacking permanent legal status from Chicago and the state of Illinois.
According to the official statement, the ICE operation is aimed at criminals lacking permanent legal status who flocked to Chicago and Illinois with the belief that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s sanctuary policies would shield them and permit unrestricted movement within the United States.
For weeks, Trump had been threatening Chicago, and Illinois’ Democratic Gov. Pritzker, with a possible deployment of National Guard troops to combat crime in the city. It remains unclear whether the president intends to move forward with his plan.
*Editor’s Note: This quote, though accurately translated, could not be independently verified.
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