SCOTUS Allows ICE Racial Profiling in Los Angeles, Sotomayor Criticizes

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to lift a lower court injunction that barred ICE agents in Los Angeles from conducting immigration stops based on ethnicity, language, employment, or location. The decision, which appeared along partisan lines with the three liberal justices dissenting, allows ICE to consider factors such as apparent Latino ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, and working low-wage jobs as reasonable suspicion for detentions. Justice Sonia Sotomayor strongly dissented, condemning the ruling as unconstitutional racial profiling that effectively makes Latinos in low-wage jobs 'fair game' for arbitrary seizures, violating Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. She criticized the majority and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence for enabling enforcement tactics that include physical violence, detaining citizens, and shifting the burden of proof onto individuals to prove their legal status. The ruling permits ICE to continue large-scale raids in Los Angeles, which have sparked protests and led President Donald Trump to federalize California's National Guard. The case, Noem v. Perdomo, remains ongoing and may return to the Supreme Court for further consideration.