Report from the Bench Trenches
U.S District Judge Maame E. Frimpong’s July 18th ruling was upheld by the 9th District U.S. Court of Appeals. District Ouort
It was a win for the rule of law when Federal agents (we’re looking at you, ICE) got legally blocked yet again from picking up raza (and/or others) in immigration-related arrests without probable cause here in Southern California.
Last week when the US Court of Appeals 9th Circuit affirmed what we all pretty much knew—that the raids and stops by Immigration and Customs Enforcement seem to rely on a person’s race or speaking Spanish–but not much more than that.
It also affirmed the two temporary restraining orders U.S District Judge Maame E. Frimpong handed down on July 18th in Los Angeles that block immigration agencies “from conducting detentive stops in this district unless the agent or officer has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.”
That means no targeting car washes, bus stops or Home Depots or produce fields for raids just because of the location and/or the people there are brown and/or speak with an accent. It’s hands-off “unless the agent or officer has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.”
Judge Frimpong is contemplating a preliminary injunction, scheduled for a hearing in late September.
Also this week: U.S District Judge Otis D. Wright II approved a settlement that bans ICE agents from misrepresenting “their identity or purpose” –say, pretending they are local police officers so you open the door to them when you’d never do it if you knew the were ICE .
It’s hands-off “unless the agent or officer has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.”
That ruling was on Monday, and included seven California counties—Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.
But then on Wednesday ICE showed just exactly what it thinks of the rule of law.
At 7AM-ish a Penske rental van pulled up in front of the Westlake Home Depot, a place where day laborers wait in hopes of finding work for a day or two. It wouldn’t be uncommon for someone to drive a vehicle like that when seeking a few workers for a few days. Several men approached the van hoping to pick up work—but then the rear doors opened and masked men jumped out, one wearing a cowboy hat–take a look—Wild West hero-style.
It DOES take a hero to sneak up on day laborers—it looks like there were eight ICE heroes exiting that van to pick up 16 day laborers and street vendors. The footage here was provided to the wider world by Fox News, which had sent a crew on a ride-along. It’s got to give the Fox fans what they came to see—brown persons chased and detained by masked men in tactical gear.
AND topped off with a cowboy hat.
U.S Border Chief Greg Bovino dubbed the Westlake ice raid “Operation Trojan Horse” because of the Penske truck rental.
U.S Border Chief Greg Bovino has led Los Angeles operations since they started in June and dubbed the Westlake raid “Operation Trojan Horse.” Get it? Smuggling troops in, using a moving van. That there is some college level allegory-speak he did right there.
Penske, the van rental company, was not pleased with this unknowing ICE collaboration and issued a statement on social media saying so—Penske strictly prohibits transporting people in vehicles’ cargo area and they are going to take it up with the Department of Homeland Security.
Which maybe reflects a sense that collaborating with ICE could harm your brand.
Too soon to tell what it means to the President Trump brand—which, no need to say, is being swamped by the Epstein files, but is also hurting on a number of fronts—immigration being one. an apparent 10-point drop from the beginning of his term.
His mass deportation campaign has also lost its polling mojo—a majority polled by CBS now oppose removals. 59% of those polled in February approved of mass deportations; that’s dropped 10 points in a July poll.
Mayor Karen Bass has asked City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto’s office to determine whether the tactics used by federal agents during the Home Depot operation violated the restraining order.
But even if voters are getting a less robust on its support, ICE is bullish on its “mission.” Acting US Attorney Bill Essayli (himself the son of immigrants from Lebanon) crowed on X “ For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again. The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
It was likely a shot at Los Angeles, which was designated a sanctuary city with a unanimous City Council vote in November 2024, but the Department of Homeland Security has a list of 500 sanctuary cities across the US which have been designated as such by the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department which defines them as non-compliant with immigration law.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has asked City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto’s office to determine whether the tactics used by federal agents during the Home Depot operation violated the restraining order established in recent court rulings. “Just being a Home Depot day laborer, to me, is not probable cause,” she said. “So the question I would have is, what were they possibly observing at Home Depot? They were observing people looking for a job for one day,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
Mohammad Tajsar of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit that resulted in recent rulings in Judge Frimpong’s court challenging ICE tactics told MSN that “the evidence available so far raises serious concerns that the federal government may be in violation of the federal judge’s July temporary restraining order.”
See you in court.
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Copyright 2025 by Bobbi Murray. Penske logo used under the Fair use proviso of the copyright law. All other images are i the public domain.