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Calif. judge cites 'mountain of evidence' ICE racially profiled Latinos, drawing NY notice
By
Herb Pinder
Published Nov 1, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET
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Douglas Rissing/Getty Images
By
Herb Pinder
Published Nov 1, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET
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New York civil rights activists are applauding a judge’s findings in California that there was “a mountain of evidence” showing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents racially profiled Latinos in the Los Angeles area, in violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Amy Belsher, director of Immigrants Rights Litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the findings in the much-watched Central District of California case “confirms that ICE has an unconstitutional policy of stopping people based only on the color of their skin.”
She added, “We don’t live in a ‘show me your papers’ country. That’s why we have challenged that same unlawful policy on behalf of New Yorkers (in court filings) — because the Constitution protects all of us from unlawful stops and detentions.”
U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a temporary order, dated Oct. 23 and made public on Thursday, barring ICE and other federal officers from stopping people “just because they look Latino or because they look Latino and working class.”
Concluding plaintiffs challenging the arrest "will likely prevail" in the ongoing litigation, the judge issued a temporary order barring the government from enforcing “their policy and practice” of making enforcement stops based on racial stereotyping and which lack the required “individualized, particularized assessment,” based on reasonable suspicion, that the people being stopped are in violation of U.S. immigration law.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a Gothamist request for comment. The LA Times reported that the Trump administration was appealing the order – a follow up to an earlier directive from the same judge that also sought to rein in ICE agents making enforcement stops in California. That measure was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court in an emergency order.
The LA Times quoted a Justice Department official who said Frimpong’s new order would hinder immigration enforcement.
Frimpong’s directive applies only in the Central California district, but it addresses longstanding charges brought by immigration advocates and civil rights attorneys across the country that ICE agents, including in New York and New Jersey, have engaged in racial profiling in furtherance of the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiative.
Frimpong concluded the plaintiffs, including immigrants’ rights groups and Latino individuals who were stopped by federal authorities, cited a “mountain of evidence” showing agents “routinely make detentive stops of individuals because those individuals appear Latino or Latino and working class.”
Relying in part on body-worn camera evidence, the judge’s opinion referenced dozens of instances where federal officers “explicitly use apparent Latino race” as a basis of stopping and detaining people, without the officers’ asking or securing any additional information.
The stops included people in a wide range of circumstances: Latinos dressed in work clothes; Latinos present at low-wage job sites, including car washes; and Latinos riding bicycles or driving their children to school. She also cited evidence, in support of her findings, of officers using racial slurs and "dehumanizing language" in referring to those they stopped.
“The Court’s order makes clear that Latino workers have the right to go about their lives without being detained because of the color of their skin,” Lauren Michel Wilfong, staff attorney with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
Wilfong added, “This win was made possible by the Plaintiffs and dozens of class members who spoke truth to power to expose DHS’s unlawful actions and safeguard our fundamental rights.”
Tagged
Race And Justice Unit
immigration
new jersey
new york state
Herb Pinder
Herb is the editor of the Race & Justice unit. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-922-2497.
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