World

Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops set after agents swept up US citizens

Published

2 months ago

September 8, 2025

Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops set after agents swept up US citizens

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations for now in Los Angeles, the latest victory for President Donald Trump’s administration at the high court.

The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate stops in and around LA. The order had barred immigration agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the broad order went too far in restricting how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can carry out brief stops for questioning.

“To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors,” he wrote in a concurrence with the majority’s brief, unexplained order. He suggested that stops in which force is used could yet face more legal pushback.

In a stinging dissent joined by her two liberal colleagues, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, “Countless people in the Los Angeles area have been grabbed, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed simply because of their looks, their accents, and the fact they make a living by doing manual labor. Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision comes as ICE agents also step up enforcement in Washington amid Trump’s unprecedented federal takeover of the capital city’s law enforcement and deployment of the National Guard.

Trump’s Republican administration argued the order wrongly restricted agents carrying out its widespread crackdown on illegal immigration.

U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles had found a “mountain of evidence” that enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. The plaintiffs included U.S. citizens swept up in immigration stops. An appeals court had left Frimpong’s ruling in place.

The lawsuit will now continue to unfold in California. It was filed by immigrant advocacy groups that accused Trump’s administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people during his administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration in the Los Angeles area.

Department of Homeland Security attorneys have said immigration officers target people based on illegal presence in the U.S., not skin color, race or ethnicity. Even so, the Justice Department argued that the order wrongly restricted the factors that ICE agents can use when deciding who to stop.

The Los Angeles region has been a battleground for the Trump administration after its hard-line immigration strategy spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines. The number of immigration raids in the LA area appeared to slow shortly after Frimpong’s order came down in July, but recently they have become more frequent again, including an operation in which agents jumped out of the back of a rented box truck and made arrests at an LA Home Depot store.

The plaintiffs argued that her order only prevents federal agents from making stops without reasonable suspicion, something that aligns with the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent.

“Numerous U.S. citizens and others who are lawfully present in this country have been subjected to significant intrusions on their liberty,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote. “Many have been physically injured; at least two were taken to a holding facility.”

The Trump administration said the order is too restrictive, “threatening agents with sanctions if the court disbelieves that they relied on additional factors in making any particular stop.”

Solicitor General D. John Sauer also argued the order can’t stand under the high court’s recent decision restricting universal injunctions, though the plaintiffs disagreed.

The order from Frimpong, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, barred authorities from using factors like apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone’s occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion for detention. Its covered a combined population of nearly 20 million people, nearly half of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Plaintiffs included three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens. One of the citizens was Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a June 13 video being seized by federal agents as he yelled, “I was born here in the States. East LA, bro!”

Gavidia was released about 20 minutes later after showing agents his identification, as was another citizen stopped at a car wash, according to the lawsuit.

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Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court and immigration at https://apnews.com/hub/immigration.

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World

Trump calls off federal agent deployment to San Francisco

Published

6 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Press Room

Trump calls off federal agent deployment to San Francisco

WASHINGTON/OAKLAND, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Donald Trump will not deploy federal agents to San Francisco, the U.S. president and the California city’s mayor said in separate social media posts on Thursday, a surprising stand-down as Trump pressures Democratic-led cities around the country to step up enforcement against crime and illegal immigration.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, a Democrat, said in a post on X that Trump called him Wednesday night to tell him he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment. Lurie said the city would continue to partner with federal agencies to combat drug crime, but that “militarized immigration enforcement” would not help.

“We appreciate that the president understands that we are the global hub for technology, and when San Francisco is strong, our country is strong,” Lurie said.

Trump confirmed the agreement in a post on Truth Social, saying the federal government had been preparing a surge in San Francisco but would cancel it.

“I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around,” Trump said. “The people of San Francisco have come together on fighting Crime, especially since we began to take charge of that very nasty subject.”

The Republican president said two major tech executives – Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff – had called him “saying that the future of San Francisco is great.”

Trump had indicated San Francisco would be a next stop for National Guard troops he was sending to various U.S. Democratic-led cities, moves that have been challenged in courts.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Wednesday, opens new tab that the Trump administration would send more than 100 federal agents to the city to ramp up immigration enforcement.

Item 1 of 4 Canada geese fly overhead while people hold placards as they protest against the arrival of federal agents at the Coast Guard base in Alameda, California, U.S, October 23, 2025. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

[1/4]Canada geese fly overhead while people hold placards as they protest against the arrival of federal agents at the Coast Guard base in Alameda, California, U.S, October 23, 2025. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

BORDER PATROL AGENTS FACE PROTESTS

Despite the apparent stand-down, a handful of U.S. Border Patrol vehicles arrived at a U.S. Coast Guard base in the Bay Area on Thursday morning and were met with several hundred protesters.

Demonstrators carried signs reading “Stop the Kidnappings” and “Protect Our Neighbors,” with one protester smacking the window of a truck as it passed by. Federal agents eventually used less-lethal rounds to disperse the crowd, with protesters saying one person was injured by a projectile and that another had their foot run over.

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, the former member of Congress and civil rights activist, said in televised remarks that a federal deployment would divide and intimidate.

“We will not allow outsiders to create chaos or exploit our city,” said Lee, a Democrat.

Trump aims to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, portraying them as criminals and a drain on U.S. communities. Democrats in major U.S. cities have criticized the crackdown, saying it has terrorized law-abiding residents, separated families and hurt businesses.

Trump has long highlighted what he views as rampant crime in San Francisco and had signaled in recent weeks that he would send federal agents there.

“We’re going to San Francisco and we’ll make it great,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday.

Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Nathan Frandino in Oakland; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Peter Henderson and Max Cherney in San Francisco; Writing by Ted Hesson; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Diane Craft

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

World

Hegseth says US conducted another strike in Eastern Pacific targeting alleged narco-traffickers

Published

7 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Press Room

Hegseth says US conducted another strike in Eastern Pacific targeting alleged narco-traffickers

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Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the U.S. military has carried out another strike in the Eastern Pacific targeting alleged terrorists he says were engaged in narco-trafficking.

Three suspected narco-terrorists were killed, according to Hegseth. The strikes were ordered at the direction of President Donald Trump.

Hegseth said the Pentagon conducted “yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.”

TRUMP APPROVES MILITARY ACTION AGAINST LATIN AMERICAN CARTELS CLASSIFIED AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS

“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and was carrying narcotics,” he continued. “Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”

This is the ninth vessel strike since September and the second strike reported in the Eastern Pacific. A total of 37 have reportedly been killed while two survived and were later repatriated to their home countries.

TRUMP UNLEASHES US MILITARY POWER ON CARTELS. IS A WIDER WAR LOOMING?

U.S. drone strike against narco-terrorists

A U.S. military drone strike ordered by President Trump destroyed a vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Oct. 22, 2025, killing three suspected narco-terrorists, according to the Department of War. (Department of War)

“These strikes will continue, day after day,” Hegseth said on Wednesday. “These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished.”

The Pentagon has refused to release the identities of those killed or evidence of drugs on board.

The Trump administration has been scrutinized in recent weeks over the strikes, including by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who raised concerns about killing people without due process and the possibility of killing innocent people.

U.S. military drone strike against narco-terrorists

In a recent interview, Paul cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded for suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent.

The senator has also argued that if the administration plans to engage in a war with Venezuela, as it has targeted boats in recent weeks it claims are transporting drugs for the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua gang, it must seek a declaration of war from Congress.

World

Trump says all trade talks with Canada are terminated over Reagan ad

Published

9 hours ago

October 24, 2025

Press Room

Trump says all trade talks with Canada are terminated over Reagan ad

BREAKING,

US President says fraudulent advertisement featuring the late President Ronald Reagan to blame for termination of talks.

Published On 24 Oct 2025

US President Donald Trump said that all trade talks with Canada have been terminated following what he called a fraudulent television advertisement in which former President Ronald Reagan spoke negatively about tariffs.

“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late on Thursday.