In Latest Unsigned Order, SCOTUS Blesses Trump’s Use of Racial Profiling in Immigration Arrests

The Supreme Court Monday said the Trump administration can resume indiscriminate immigration-related stops in Los Angeles based solely on a person’s appearance, the language they speak or their occupation.

In a fiery dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the decision as “unconscionably irreconcilable with our nation’s constitutional guarantees.”

In a 6-3 vote, the court granted the Trump administration’s request to stay a district court’s order finding that Department of Homeland Security officials relying on factors such as ethnicity alone when detaining someone was “insufficient and impermissible.”

The court’s majority offered no legal explanation in doing so. In addition to Sotomayor, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson also dissented.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that he voted to grant Trump’s stay request because a person’s ethnicity can be a “relevant factor” for agents to initiate immigration-related stops.

Kavanaugh, who was appointed by Trump, acknowledged that this type of profiling will result in U.S. citizens and legal residents being detained by federal officers, though he claimed they “will be free to go after the brief encounter.”

Writing for the three dissenters, Sotomayor argued that the court’s decision will result in more Americans and legal visa holders getting swept up in Trump’s mass deportation efforts based on their skin color, language, or occupation. 

“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,” wrote Sotomayor.

Sotomayor noted that Kavanaugh, by not clarifying how someone can prove their citizenship or resident status, essentially mandated that Latinos keep their papers on them at all times.

“The Government, and now the concurrence, has all but declared that all Latinos, U.S. citizens or not, who work low wage jobs are fair game to be seized at any time, taken away from work, and held until they provide proof of their legal status to the agents’ satisfaction,” Sotomayor wrote.

Sotomayor also criticized the court’s majority for issuing another consequential decision without offering a legal explanation. 

“In the last eight months, this Court’s appetite to circumvent the ordinary appellate process and weigh in on important issues has grown exponentially,” she wrote. “Its interest in explaining itself, unfortunately, has not.”

In response to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration raids in Los Angeles, civil rights groups and several individuals filed suit, alleging that the government violated the Constitution through the indiscriminate sweeps.

The plaintiffs include Jason Brian Gavidia, a U.S. citizen who was handcuffed by ICE agents while working on his vehicle outside a tow yard.

In its order Monday, the Supreme Court said it would be open to formally hearing the case if the Ninth Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction issued by the district court.

The Supreme Court’s decision came as the Trump administration continued to prepare for large-scale immigration raids in Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has warned that the Trump administration seeks to use the operations to provoke unrest in the city and create a pretext to deploy National Guard troops.

The Trump administration’s immigration operations in Los Angeles incited protests, which Trump then cited in orders deploying National Guard troops and Marines to the city.

This story has been updated with new details throughout.