Judge blocks 'unlawful' ICE detentions in California

Daily Mail​

13 hours ago

A federal judge delivered a stunning rebuke to the Trump administration on Friday, halting what she described as racially driven, unconstitutional immigration raids that have upended lives, shuttered businesses, and thrown entire communities into chaos across Southern California.
The blistering ruling stunned government attorneys and sent shockwaves through the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong granted a temporary restraining order barring federal agents from using race, language, or vocation as justification for immigration stops. She also ordered immediate access to legal counsel for detainees held at the notorious downtown Los Angeles facility known as 'B-18.'
The ruling marks a major legal victory for immigrant rights groups and a sharp blow to the Trump administration's hardline immigration tactics in liberal California—tactics critics have called draconian, dangerous, and politically motivated. Mayor Karen Bass praised the decision in a scathing statement Friday afternoon, saying Angelenos were living in fear as 'masked men grab people off the street, chase working people through parking lots, and march through children's summer camps.
The court order halts ICE and CBP agents from detaining individuals based on race, Spanish-language use, or presence at sites like car washes, tow yards, bus stops, and Home Depot parking lots—locations where hundreds were swept up in recent weeks. The lawsuit, Vasquez Perdomo et al. v. Noem et al., was filed last week on behalf of several advocacy organizations, three undocumented immigrants, and two U.S. citizens, including Latino tow truck worker Brian Gavidia, who was allegedly detained despite showing valid identification.
The case was sparked by a wave of arrests across seven California counties—including Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Pasadena—that immigrant rights groups described as indiscriminate and terrorizing. Since June 6, more than 2,800 people have been detained in a massive escalation of ICE operations. A Los Angeles Times analysis found that nearly 70 percent of those arrested had no criminal record, and more than half had never been charged with a crime.
Inside B-18, detainees were allegedly held in squalid conditions, denied food and water, and stripped of their constitutional right to an attorney. Judge Frimpong not only ordered 24-hour legal access and confidential phone lines for those in custody, she also blasted the administration's apparent lack of evidence to justify the raids. California Governor Gavin Newsom weighed in, delivering one of the strongest rebukes yet of the Trump administration's tactics.
'Justice prevailed today—the court's decision puts a temporary stop to federal immigration officials violating people's rights and racial profiling,' Newsom said in a statement. 'Stephen Miller's immigration agenda is one of chaos, cruelty, and fear. Instead of targeting the most dangerous people, federal officials have been arbitrarily detaining Americans and hardworking people, ripping families apart, and disappearing people into cruel detention to meet outrageous arrest quotas without regard to due process and constitutional rights. That should stop now. California stands with the law and the foundation upon which our founding fathers built this country. I call on the Trump administration to do the same.'
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the ruling a 'critical victory' and condemned what he called the Trump administration's campaign of 'fear and division.' In court, Bonta led a multi-state coalition backing the plaintiffs and argued that the raids were not about enforcement, but about punishing Los Angeles for its political opposition to Trump—citing the president's social media vow to conduct 'the single largest Mass Deportation Program in history.' Government lawyers struggled to defend the crackdown, with DOJ attorney Sean Skedzielewski insisting ICE agents acted 'aboveboard,' though Judge Frimpong was openly skeptical and dismissed DHS declarations as too vague. Cities that joined the suit, including Los Angeles and West Hollywood, framed the raids as political retaliation. The Trump administration is expected to appeal, but for now, the restraining order remains in effect—a rare and stinging legal defeat for a White House that has largely succeeded in hardening immigration enforcement.