Overview

• On July 28, a Ninth Circuit panel heard the Justice Department’s motion to stay Judge Frimpong’s temporary order halting ICE roving patrols across eight Southern California counties
• Judges Ronald Gould, Marsha Berzon and Jennifer Sung challenged DOJ claims that race, language or location-based stops inherently meet the Fourth Amendment’s reasonable suspicion requirement
• Frimpong’s injunction bars ICE agents from using race, ethnicity, language, accent, location or employment as sole grounds for stops, finding such pretexts unconstitutional
• ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar and allied civil rights lawyers argued ICE’s policy effectively instructs agents to detain without legal safeguards and invoked Easyriders v. Hannigan to support broad injunctive relief
• An expedited ruling is expected from the Ninth Circuit, and if the stay is denied the Justice Department has signaled it will seek immediate review by the Supreme Court