LOS ANGELES, California — A Los Angeles federal judge on Friday granted in part a request to restrict alleged race-based, suspicionless immigration stops by federal agents across the district, MyNewsLA reported, in a case brought by residents, Latino workers and immigration advocacy groups against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service)
U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong issued an order "granting in part stop/arrest plaintiffs' motion" for a preliminary injunction, and also granted the plaintiffs' motion to certify a class, the Pasadena Star-News reported. The entirety of both orders was sealed from public view, so what exactly the injunction now requires or forbids has not been made public.
Source: Pasadena Star-News
According to the ACLU of Southern California, which represents the plaintiffs, federal agents have been carrying out what it alleges is an ongoing campaign of warrantless and discriminatory enforcement stops in the region since the summer of 2025, targeting, in the ACLU's words, "people who appear Latino and low-income or working-class." Those are the plaintiffs' allegations; DHS disputes the characterisation. The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU, the Los Angeles Worker Center Network, United Farm Workers and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights on behalf of plaintiffs including three Pasadena men, Jorge Hernandez Viramontes of Baldwin Park and Jason Brian Gavidia of East Los Angeles.
Source: Pasadena Star-News
The case has already been to the U.S. Supreme Court once: a district court initially issued a temporary restraining order limiting certain enforcement actions, and in August 2025 the Supreme Court granted the government's request to stay that order while litigation proceeds, allowing the challenged practices to continue. Friday's partly granted injunction is the latest turn, and its practical effect cannot be judged until the sealed order is made public or described by the parties.
Source: Pasadena Star-News
DHS has frequently insisted its agents operate within the law. In a statement quoted in the Star-News report, the department said: "Our agents are focused on protecting the American people — not entertaining performative outrage," and asked where the media's outrage was for families who lost a loved one to crimes by undocumented individuals. For immigrant workers in Southern California — including Punjabi truckers and farm and warehouse workers who are routinely on the road at all hours — the case is being watched closely, because it concerns when an agent may stop and question someone in the first place.
Source: Pasadena Star-News, quoting DHS