The Supreme Court's decision overturns a previous verdict that prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from stopping people without "reasonable suspicion" that they have immigrated to the US illegally. The Department of Homeland Security's spokeswoman Trucua McLaughlin describes it as "a victory for California's security and the rule of law".
In reality, it means that Spanish-speaking, non-white people are at a higher risk of being arrested. ICE gets the green light to continue the raids that resulted in loud protests last summer. Then, it happened that masked, heavily armed agents arrested Spanish-speaking so-called Latinos on the street and questioned them. Some were American citizens, notes CNN.
Relevant factor
The legal twists have been several. After ICE was sued for the raids in the city in June, District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong decided that they should be stopped until the matter could be resolved more thoroughly.
Now, the verdict has been overturned by the Supreme Court, which currently has a conservative majority since Donald Trump appointed three judges. Frimpong's decision was overturned with a vote of 6-3 and ICE is allowed to stop people based on, for example, ethnicity, language or work.
"To speak clearly, ethnicity is not the same as reasonable suspicion, but it can be a relevant factor when combined with other obvious factors," writes conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the decision according to BBC.
"Un-American"
In Los Angeles, the raids on workplaces where many immigrants work have already started. According to Los Angeles Times, thousands of people were arrested on Monday.
Los Angeles' Democratic Mayor Karen Bass calls the decision dangerous.
"It's un-American and threatens the structure of personal freedom in the US," she says in a statement.
California's Governor Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, says according to BBC that the decision will bring fear to the state.
"Trump's private police force has now been given the green light to go after your families."
