Maame Frimpong

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong

The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to block an order from a Biden-appointed Los Angeles federal judge who the federal government says has acted unlawfully to block immigration enforcement operations in southern California, and perhaps far beyond.

On July 14, attorneys with the Department of Justice filed an emergency motion to impose a stay on the temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong a week earlier.

In the emergency motion, the DOJ says the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals must act to put a stop to legal chicanery being used by illegal immigrant advocates to “impose a straight-jacket injunction that would vastly restrict the government's ability to stop and detain anyone on suspicion of being unlawfully present in the United States.”

“The court (Judge Frimpong) gave the government just two business days to respond to hundreds of pages of submissions, and largely rubber-stamped Plaintiffs' proposed order just days later,” the DOJ wrote in its emergency petition. “The result is a sweeping, district-wide injunction that threatens to hobble lawful immigration enforcement by hanging a Damocles sword of contempt over every immigration stop. The government seeks an immediate stay of that untenable order pending appeal, and an administrative stay in the meantime.”

The Ninth Circuit has not yet ruled on the emergency motion, or scheduled any oral arguments, according to the online court docket.

Judge Frimpong moved on July 7 to impose a TRO on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), effectively halting immigration enforcement operations that began in June in Southern California.

The judge said she believed immigration advocates’ claims that federal officers unconstitutionally rounded up people without reasonable suspicion and denied them access to attorneys.

In a follow-up order fleshing out the TRO on July 11, Frimpong enjoined agents and officers of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE from rounding up people in the L.A. region without reasonable grounds that violations of U.S. immigration law occurred.

Factors such as race or ethnicity, speaking English with an accent, speaking Spanish, engaging in certain types of work or being in locations such as bus stops, car washes or agricultural sites cannot be used, the judge said.

Frimpong also ordered that steps be taken at Room B-18 of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles to provide opportunities for prospective attorneys or legal representatives to visit and meet confidentially with detainees.

Plaintiffs, including workers and advocacy groups, filed the lawsuit against federal agencies on July 6 for allegedly “abducting and disappearing community members using unlawful stop-and-arrest practices” and confining them in illegal conditions, according to the ACLU of Southern California. The ACLU Foundation of Southern California is among the groups providing legal representation to the plaintiffs.

“Roving patrols without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and denying access to lawyers violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Frimpong said in her opinion. “What the federal government would have this court believe – in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case – is that none of this is actually happening.”

The plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their arguments alleging the federal government is conducting immigration-enforcement actions in ways that violate residents’ constitutional rights, the judge said.

In an emailed statement to the Southern California Record, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the judge was acting against American interests by essentially seizing control over immigration enforcement operations in the region.

“A district judge is undermining the will of the American people,” McLaughlin said in her statement. “America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists – truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. Law and order will prevail.”

The temporary restraining orders issued by Frimpong call on federal authorities to provide documentation on detention stops conducted by agents, to develop guidance on how agents and officers determine reasonable suspicion to make such stops, and to put in place more training for immigration operations.

The judge could then determine what is “reasonable” and proper immigration enforcement tactics.

Nine cities in the region, as well as Los Angeles County, have opted to intervene on behalf of residents in the case.

Other Democrat run states have also sought to jump into the action, as Democrats move to use the action as a legal mechanism to perhaps sidestep the U.S. Supreme Court and impose a national ban on immigration raids by ICE - which an ACLU attorney described in a public statement as “marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons.”

Frimpong has served as a district judge in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California since 2021, when she was appointed by former President Joe Biden.

Under the Biden administration, millions of illegal immigrants were allowed to enter the U.S., despite repeated calls from throughout the country for the former president to take action to close the border.

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