Judge orders halt to 'roving patrols' in CA
Lawsuit alleges profing by immigration agents
By: Cybele Mayes-Osterman
USA Today
..... A federal judge on July 11 [2025] order the Trump administration to stop immigration agents in Southern California form "indiscriminately" arresting people based on racial profiling, saying hat it had likely broken the law by dispatching "roving patrols" of agent to carry out sweeping arrests.,
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The decision was a win for a group of immigration advocates and five people arrested by immigration agents that sued the Department of Homeland Security over what it called a "common, systematic pattern" of people with brown skin forcibly detained and questioned in the Los Angeles area.
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In a complaint file July 2, [2025] the group said the area had come "under siege" by masked immigration agents "flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites, day laborer corners, and other places." They alleged agents picked out targets to forcefully detain and question solely because they had brown skin, spoke Spanish or English with an scent, and worked as a day laborers, farmworkers or other jobs.
..... Those arrested were denied access to lawyers and held in 'dungeon-like: facilities where some were "pressured" into accepting deportation, the lawsuit alleged.
..... Judge Maame Fimpong of the Central District of California wrote in her order that the group would likely succeed in proving that "the federal government is indeed conducing roving patrols without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers." Stopping the indiscriminate arrests was a "Farly moderate request,' she wrote.
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Her order granted an emergency request, and the lawsuit is ongoing.
..... Firmpong "is undermining the will of the American people, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "America;s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists,"
..... Allegations that agents are making arrests based on skin color are "disgusting and categorically FALSE," McLaughlin said. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence."
..... Mohammad Tajsar, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing the group, said: " It does not take a federal judge to recognizing that marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons have been violating ordinary people's rights throughout Southern California.. We are hopeful that today's [07/11/2025] ruling will be a step toward accountability for the federal government's flagrant lawlessness."
..... The Trump administration ramped up immigration raids across California starting in June, [2025] widening its focus from those with criminal records to a broader sweep for anyone in the country illegally.
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The crackdown sparked ongoing protests, which Trump's dispatched Nation la Guard troops and U.S. Marines to quell.