LOS ANGELES — Anger and frustration rippled through Southern California's immigrant rights community on Monday, after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on roving patrols and racial profiling during immigration stops.
Outside a Home Depot near MacArthur Park, the site of multiple raids by federal agents in recent months, organizers, lawyers and local lawmakers said that Los Angeles residents will not be intimidated.
"No matter what the decision was today, we will continue to stand strong," said Flor Melendez, executive director of CLEAN Car Wash Worker Center, a labor advocacy nonprofit. "This decision does not push us back. It brings our community forward, and we need to see that."
Eighty-one car washes have been targeted by federal agents, several more than three times each, and 250 car wash employees have been detained since sweeping immigration enforcement started in June, Melendez said. Arrestees included a labor organizer who was arrested during his shift at a car wash last week, she said.
"It is workers like him that make our community better, that improve the industries for other workers, that stand up for those injustices and make it better," she said. "It is unacceptable."
The high court's ruling grants an emergency request by the Trump administration to block a July 11 order by U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong that bars federal agents from stopping people based solely on their race, ethnicity or the language they speak.
The original lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and other civil rights groups in response to aggressive actions by federal agents who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
“Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
"This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws — it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses,” he added, referring to the White House deputy chief of staff for policy who has been instrumental in shaping Trump's hard-line immigration policies.
The arrests and detainments in Southern California began in early June, sending shock waves through the region and triggering lawsuits and protests.
Trump responded by deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles, which a federal judge in California ruled last week violated a 19th-century law barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities.
“Immigration agents are now being given the power to profile, stop, detain and arrest people because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the work that they do," said Armando Gudino, a member of the Los Angeles Worker Center Network and a plaintiff in the federal case. "In doing so, they have effectively legalized racial profiling and by extension, racial discrimination."
He continued: “We will not be silenced, and we will not stop fighting until the Constitution is not only preserved but restored for every worker, every immigrant and every family in this country."
After the crackdown began, immigrant rights advocates moved swiftly to create a coalition of dozens of activist groups with hundreds of volunteers who fan out at Home Depots, car washes and other locations that have become enforcement targets.
The volunteers post arrests and detainments on social media, warn workers when federal agents are nearby and host "know-your-rights" workshops for citizens and undocumented residents.
After Monday’s ruling, organizers said they were determined to increase their numbers and double down on efforts to protect community members.
Activist groups started flooding social media with posts urging people to remain on high alert and join private groups on mobile apps that cannot be easily monitored or infiltrated.
In one post, Siempre Unidos LA, warned residents of seven counties to expect enforcement actions to intensify beginning Tuesday. In a different post, the West Los Angeles Rapid Response Network told followers to prepare to document interactions with federal agents, including those with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"We can expect I.C.E activity across the city, especially at Home Depots and other day laborer sites, like car washes," the group wrote. "The I.C.E tactics we have learned to recognize are what we can expect to see in greater numbers and frequency. At times like this it is absolutely necessary to remain courageous, organized and vigilant."
