After a federal judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on Friday prohibiting federal police from racially profiling people during federal immigration raids, immigration operations at Home Depots and carwashes seemingly came to a halt over the weekend.
The TRO bars immigration officials from stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion. And authorities can no longer rely on a person's apparent race or ethnicity, their accent, or the location that they’re in, to make arrests.
Additionally, the TRO orders the federal government to provide access to legal counsel seven days a week for individuals detained at the Federal Detention Center on Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
The restraining order follows the filing of a federal lawsuit by Los Angeles residents, workers, and advocacy groups against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging unlawful stop and arrest practices.
“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU SoCal. “While it does not take a federal judge to recognize that marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons have been violating ordinary people’s rights throughout Southern California, we are hopeful that today’s ruling will be a step toward accountability for the federal government’s flagrant lawlessness that we have all been witnessing.”