Overview

• The Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s emergency request to lift limits on immigration stops, allowing raids to restart while litigation proceeds.
• U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong had barred stops based solely on race, language, location, or job, a ruling the 9th Circuit left in place until the high court’s stay.
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion but may be a relevant factor, as Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissented.
• The order applies to seven Southern California counties and permits ICE to resume the ‘roving patrols’ used in recent Los Angeles sweeps at sites such as Home Depot parking lots.
• Civil-rights groups and local officials said they will continue the class-action challenge, cautioning that the decision could encourage similar tactics beyond the region.