The Supreme Court issued its 2012 decision in Arizona v. United States because Arizona tried to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the state due to Barack Obama’s border policies. The leftist majority, horrified that anything might stop that flow, held that no one can interfere with the federal government’s authority over the border.
However, California District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong (Harvard BA, Yale JD), an Obama appointee, has determined that there is an unspoken carve-out: An unelected judge may control border practice and policy.
Henceforth, in Southern California, ICE has the burden of proving in advance of detaining a person that said person is, in fact, an illegal alien, which is an impossible standard. ICE must also completely re-do all its procedures and training to her satisfaction—and all of this is just via a Temporary Restraining Order that the federal government never even had the chance to address.
The current situation is that California is home to an estimated 1.8 million illegal aliens (although the number is probably much higher), most of whom are clustered in California’s southern and central regions, and most of whom are working in agriculture and construction. Just as Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is, ICE, presumably acting on solid information and belief, is raiding worksites and certain parking lots that have known concentrations of illegal aliens. With that probable cause, ICE detains people who then must prove their legal bona fides. Most, of course, can’t.
Leftists are outraged at the idea that Trump’s federal government is applying the law against people living and working illegally in the United States. They’ve staged violent protests and engaged in militia-style attacks against federal agents. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was in bed with Cuban communists, has declared war on the federal government:
Let this sink in: Los Angeles is waging insurrection against the federal government. https://t.co/srJNjwvMJj
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) July 12, 2025
And of course, leftists are looking to friendly federal judges for succor. The ACLU (which was always a socialist front group) went before Judge Frimpong seeking ex parte relief on behalf of multiple plaintiffs, some of whom are immigrants here legally. Other plaintiffs are immigrant organizations. (Ex parte, by the way, means that the matter goes before the court on minimal notice, without giving the opposing party any, or any meaningful, time to respond.)
The application for relief claimed that ICE was stopping people without “reasonable suspicion.” Instead, the application argued, ICE agents were just trying to round up as many people as possible in response to an “arbitrary arrest quota.” Even the ACLU concedes, though, that the targets are illegal aliens:
In late May, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller expressly directed high-level officials in the agency to instead “just go out there and arrest [unauthorized noncitizens]” by rounding up people in public spaces like “Home Depot” and “7Eleven” stores.
Yup, because that’s where the “unauthorized noncitizens” (i.e., illegal aliens) are.
Plaintiffs contend, too, that the round-ups were based on “racial profiling.”
By definition, agents and officers conducting patrols do not have any prior particularized information about any of the individuals they stop and question. Rather, they are resorting to broad stereotypes based on race or ethnicity, accent, a person’s presence at a particular location, and/or the type of work one does to determine who they will target.
Interestingly, plaintiffs don’t claim that the majority of those “profiled” have been, in fact, legal residents. Instead, they point only to some of the plaintiffs who were forced to prove their citizenship or residency.
In other words, the plaintiffs are arguing that, in dealing with the 30-million-plus illegal aliens in America, most of whom are unknown by virtue of their illegal status, the government must prove in advance that every person detained is, in fact, illegally here. This is an impossible standard.
However, Judge Frimpong was persuaded. Yesterday, despite the absence of any opposing argument from the government, she issued a Temporary Restraining Order imposing stringent procedural rules on DHS and ICE.
For each detention, ICE agents must have a “reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.” (Again, an impossible standard with over 30 million illegal aliens hiding from the law.) The fact that the person is a non-English speaking Hispanic hanging out or working in spots known to be teeming with illegal aliens is no longer probable cause for making the detained person show his or her legal status.
In addition to this new standard, Frimpong also issued a whole new set of regulations:
iii. Defendants will maintain and provide documentation of detentive stops, including factors supporting reasonable suspicion, to Plaintiffs’ counsel on a regular schedule.
iv. Defendants will develop guidance concerning how agents and officers should determine whether “reasonable suspicion” exists when conducting detentive stops.
v. Defendants will implement associated training for Defendants’ agents and officers involved in immigration operations in this District.
Usually, regulatory changes come from the top (i.e., the duly elected president) or from formal hearings where the public has a right to weigh in on the matter. But that’s no longer the case in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
If you’ve been wondering who’s in charge of the federal government’s immigration policy, Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong (Harvard BA, Yale JD) has the answer: She is. Lenin would be proud.
Image created using ChatGPT.