Judge restricts immigration officers from making warrantless arrests in Southern California

A federal judge on Wednesday barred immigration enforcement officers from making arrests without a warrant in Southern California.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong granted a preliminary injunction on Sept. 2, which was unsealed on Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, in partnership with nonprofit public interest law firm Public Counsel and several Los Angeles immigrant advocacy groups, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year after the region saw a massive surge in immigration enforcement.

The preliminary injunction came from the Central District of California, which covers Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties.

Frimpong — appointed by former President Biden — ordered the federal government to thoroughly document the probable causes that lead to arrests before obtaining a warrant, in order to prove the arrests were “proper.” She added that the plaintiffs have shown that the policy has been ongoing, pointing to DHS officer testimony.

“And the ensuing detention (that would stem from an unlawful arrest) naturally constitutes irreparable harm,” Frimpong wrote. “Defendants’ arguments to the contrary do not persuade this Court otherwise.”

The order requires officers not to rely on the “escape risk” standard set forth by Todd Lyons, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which suggested that being an undocumented immigrant was sufficient as a likelihood of escape.

The Hill has reached out to DHS for comment.

The Supreme Court lifted a previous temporary restraining order issued by Frimpong last September. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second appointee to the court, indicated that the plaintiffs likely had no legal right to sue.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) praised Frimpong’s order, saying Trump has “tested” the City of Angels “time and time again, and we have stood strong.”

“For more than a year, families across our city have lived with the fear that a trip to work, a walk down the street, or a goodbye in the morning could end with a loved one being taken away,” Bass said in a statement. “Today’s ruling is an important protection against the warrantless arrests that have racially targeted Angelenos and terrorized communities.”

Mayra Joachin, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, called the ruling one of the most important decisions “in the community’s effort to end the federal government’s cruel and illegal practice of abducting people and separating them from their families.”

Judges in Oregon, Colorado, Washington, D.C., and the Eastern District of California have issued similar orders in the past year, as the Trump administration continues to pursue its sweeping immigration crackdown.

Frimpong previously held DHS in contempt after the department delayed in complying with an order to release digital copies of communications on the cellphones of more than 800 immigration agents. Plaintiffs alleged that officers used racial slurs in those communications and argued that access to cellphone data would provide evidence to support their claims.