Decision effectively allows immigration agents to use racial profiling to detain people, greenlighting sweeping raids.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the administration of President Donald Trump can resume its sweeping immigration raids in the city of Los Angeles, casting aside concerns over potential civil liberties violations.
In a 6-3 decision, the conservative-majority court rolled back restrictions on the administration’s aggressive approach to immigration raids, allowing agents to target people based on factors such as language and ethnicity.
Writing a dissent for the liberal minority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that the ruling “has all but declared that all Latinos, US 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”.
The highest US court has rarely placed limits on the Trump administration’s assertions of executive authority. Monday’s ruling invalidates previous restrictions imposed by Central District of California Judge Maame Frimpong, who said there was a “mountain of evidence” that immigration agents were violating the constitutional rights of residents in Los Angeles.
