Federal Judge Halts Indiscriminate Immigration Stops, Orders Access to Lawyers for Detainees in Southern California

A federal judge on Friday granted two temporary restraining orders blocking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from continuing immigration enforcement practices in Southern California that the court found likely violated the Constitution.

The rulings prohibit immigration agents from stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion and from relying on certain characteristics to justify enforcement actions, including race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or accented English, being present at locations like bus stops or agricultural sites, or engaging in certain types of work.

In a separate order, the court also required U.S. Department of Homeland Security to allow detained individuals access to legal counsel every day of the week, including weekends and holidays, at the B-18 federal building in downtown Los Angeles.

The orders stem from a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Southern California residents, workers, and advocacy groups, alleging that U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents used unlawful tactics to detain people and held them under illegal conditions without access to attorneys.

Pasadena was among nine municipalities that moved to intervene in the case, while the state filed an amicus brief in support of the restraining orders.

“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, which represents the plaintiffs. “While it does not take a federal judge to recognize that marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons have been violating ordinary people’s rights throughout Southern California, we are hopeful that today’s ruling will be a step toward accountability for the federal government’s flagrant lawlessness that we have all been witnessing.”