The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s administration to continue controversial ICE roving patrols in Southern California, a practice that critics say violates constitutional rights and unfairly targets Latino communities.

In a closely watched case, the high court sided with Trump officials, overturning lower court rulings that had blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from stopping and questioning people without clear evidence of immigration violations. The decision allows immigration enforcement agents to resume what opponents describe as racially biased immigration raids across seven California counties.

The unsigned order came without explanation, but it was accompanied by a concurring opinion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He argued that ICE officers can consider factors such as language, location, and apparent ethnicity when deciding whether to question someone about their immigration status—though he clarified that ethnicity alone cannot justify a stop.

“Reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status,” Kavanaugh wrote, suggesting that the threshold for such stops is relatively low.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice on the court, issued a blistering dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low-wage job,” Sotomayor warned. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”

The ruling directly affects Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, and San Diego Counties, where ICE had been conducting surprise interrogations at farms, bus stops, and even car washes. Some U.S. citizens were caught up in the raids, questioned about their status simply because of their appearance or language.

Previously, a U.S. District Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had blocked the patrols, ruling that ICE was relying too heavily on racial and linguistic profiling. But with the Supreme Court’s order, federal immigration authorities can now resume these operations, which many advocates fear will spread to other states.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already signaled it will press forward aggressively. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly dismissed the earlier court rulings, vowing that “none of [the government’s] operations are going to change.”

Immigrant rights groups and civil liberties advocates expressed outrage at the Supreme Court’s decision. The ACLU’s national legal director, Cecillia Wang, said the ruling “puts people at grave risk” by effectively allowing ICE agents to “target individuals because of their race, how they speak, or simply for being at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“This means living in a fearful ‘papers please’ regime,” Wang added, referencing past concerns about racial profiling under Arizona’s infamous immigration law.

Justice Sotomayor highlighted disturbing reports that ICE agents were not conducting routine stops but instead were “seizing both undocumented immigrants and U.S. citizens using firearms, physical violence, and warehouse detentions.”

The case is one of nearly two dozen emergency appeals the Trump administration has brought before the Supreme Court since the start of his second term in January. Many involve immigration policy, reflecting the White House’s hardline approach.

For Trump, the decision represents a legal and political win. His administration has made immigration enforcement a central issue, arguing that stronger patrols are necessary to deter illegal border crossings and remove undocumented migrants already living in the country.

Kavanaugh’s concurrence echoed this argument: while acknowledging that many immigrants come to the U.S. seeking opportunity and freedom, he stressed that their presence remains unlawful unless Congress passes legislation to legalize it.

Beyond immigration, the ruling spotlights a broader debate about how the Supreme Court handles high-stakes cases. Critics say the court increasingly resolves major policy disputes through short, unexplained emergency orders—often siding with Trump.

“The court’s order is troubling for another reason: It is entirely unexplained,” Sotomayor wrote. “In the last eight months, this court’s appetite to circumvent the ordinary appellate process and weigh in on important issues has grown exponentially.”

For now, ICE patrols in Southern California are back in full force, raising fears among Latino communities and immigrant advocates that racial profiling will intensify. The decision could embolden immigration officers nationwide, potentially leading to more aggressive enforcement tactics in other states.

Meanwhile, civil rights groups are vowing to continue fighting in court and in Congress to rein in what they see as unconstitutional abuses. As the ACLU put it, the ruling underscores “the urgent need for legislative reforms to protect communities from discriminatory immigration enforcement.”

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