A federal judge in California has temporarily blocked Los Angeles police and ICE agents from conducting racially targeted immigration stops in Latino and Asian-majority neighborhoods. The ruling came after civil rights groups presented data showing a disproportionately high number of detentions in certain zip codes, often without warrants or probable cause.
The court found “significant evidence of bias-based profiling,” stating that the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments had likely been violated. The Justice Department has been asked to review ICE’s current enforcement methods across the country. While the ruling applies only to LA County for now, advocacy groups are hopeful it could set a national precedent for curbing arbitrary immigration enforcement practices.