The Supreme Court moved to pause an order that temporarily banned federal immigrant agents from conducting targeted stops based on perceived race, language or employment in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 8.
With a 6-3 vote, the court voted to grant the federal government’s request for a pause of a temporary restraining order on “roving patrols,” which reinstated immigration agents’ ability to stop people based on “little more than their working at a car wash, speaking Spanish or having brown skin,” according to the LA Times.
According to the emergency appeal granted by the court, part of the justification for lifting this ban is the belief that it hampered immigration officers’ ability to target those they believe to be here illegally.
“Immigration stops based on reasonable suspicion of illegal presence have been an important component of U.S. immigration enforcement for decades,” according to a briefing written by Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
The Court’s decision on Sept. 8 sparked criticism from UCI immigrant law clinic director Annie Lai, who showed support for the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) lawsuit that initially led to the temporary restraining order.
“The Supreme Court’s decision deals a devastating blow to communities reeling from the government’s racially discriminatory raids. Through the stroke of a pen, through its emergency shadow docket, the court has written off decades of Fourth Amendment law,” Lai said in a press release by the ACLU.
Though the temporary restraining order has been lifted, the proceedings will continue forward with the federal district court set to hear arguments on whether or not to go with a preliminary injunction on Sept. 24.
“We always knew this was going to be a long fight, and we are already preparing for what comes next,” Lai said.
In August 2025, Irvine officials announced that despite consideration, the city would not be joining a slew of other cities in a federal lawsuit challenging current detainment processes by federal immigration agents. Though Irvine declined to join the ACLU lawsuit, city officials voted 4-3 in a special closed-session meeting to draft an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit on Aug. 12.
The Los Angeles lawsuit reaches its neighbor Orange County, in which over 200,000 undocumented immigrants call home, according to a profile done by the Migration Policy Institute. The institute is a nonpartisan research and analysis firm that “seeks to improve immigration and integration policies on both a national and international level.”
According to the Orange County Immigrant and Refugee Liberty Fund, 30% of the county’s population is made up of foreign-born residents, particularly from Mexico, Vietnam, China, the Philippines and Korea. The fund is an initiative that aims to increase access to legal representation for immigrants at risk of deportation or jail time.
Spearheaded by County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento and other supporters, the fund achieves its goal through a network of legal organizations, such as the OC Rapid Response Network, the Latino Center for Prevention and Action, and UC Irvine Law’s immigrant rights clinic, formally known as the Immigrant and Racial Justice Solidarity Clinic.
Through the fund, these programs receive grants that allow them to expand their services to provide more than just legal representation. Services include legal navigators who accompany people to court hearings and ICE check-ins and clinics to help those who will represent themselves in court.
The idea for these types of legal defense funds started during President Donald Trump’s first term. Santa Ana city councilmembers, including Sarmiento at the time, agreed to collaborate with the ACLU and UCI School of Law to provide representation to Santa Ana residents at risk of deportation who could not afford an attorney.
The movement to provide undocumented immigrants with legal support through a local fund seems to be growing, as Costa Mesa councilmembers recently moved to start a $200,000 immigrant legal defense fund to help anyone detained by ICE within the city’s boundaries.
Cain Carbajal is a Features Intern for the summer 2025 quarter. He can be reached at cainac@uci.edu.
Edited by Alyssa Villagonzalo and Joshua Gonzales
