Ninth Circuit Affirms That Racial Profiling Is Still Illegal, Even If ICE Has Kidnapping Quotas To Meet

Get bent, Stephen Miller!

On July 11, Judge Maami Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the Central District of California issued a temporary restraining order barring the Department of Homeland Security from dispatching “roving patrols” of ICE agents to detain and arrest people without reasonable suspicion, as required by the Constitution.

“Compliance with the Fourth Amendment is nothing new, contrary to the Defendants’ claims,” she scoffed at the Justice Department’s demand that it be allowed to continue snatching people off the street based on their race or country of origin. “Complying with the law does not impose harm.”

The Trump administration appealed that TRO to the Ninth Circuit and demanded relief within four days, along with an administrative stay in the interim so that it could continue to conduct illegal raids with impunity.

The Ninth Circuit did none of that. Instead, it ordered expedited briefing and set oral argument for July 28. Then on Friday, August 1, the court not only refused to stay Judge Frimpong’s order but actually strengthened its protections for Los Angeles’s residents.

The TRO

Judge Frimpong’s order prohibited two kinds of misconduct by ICE agents in Los Angeles. The first concerned “B-18,” a windowless basement where detainees arrested during the raids were “temporarily processed” by being denied food, fresh water, medical supplies, and access to counsel (and their families). The court ordered the government to allow detainees access to counsel via confidential phone calls and daily visitation hours. The administration has not yet challenged that part of the order.