As the Supreme Court cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles, the ruling from the high court highlighted concerns from Latino U.S. residents wondering if they need to start carrying their passports.
Those concerns have been echoed in other cities like Chicago, where officials have warned of heightened immigration enforcement, leading to fear and confusion within immigrant communities.
Here’s what to know:
What did the Supreme Court rule?
The court’s conservative majority this week 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.
The majority did not explain its reasoning, as is typical on the court’s emergency docket. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the lower-court judge had gone too far in restricting how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can carry out brief stops for questioning.
“The prospect of such after-the-fact judicial second-guessing and contempt proceedings will inevitably chill lawful immigration enforcement efforts,” he wrote in a concurrence.
But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote “one Latino U. S. citizen “feel[s] like [he] need[s] to carry [his] passport for protection, in case federal agents stop [him] again.”
“Another Latino U. S. citizen similarly ‘worries that as a visibly Latino man, he could be detained’ if he does not carry his passport, but ‘decided against [doing so] because he believes that as an American, he should not have to live like that in his own country,'” Sotomayor wrote.
In the stinging dissent joined by her two liberal colleagues, Sotomayor said the LA decision erodes constitutional freedoms.
“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,” she wrote. “Today, the Court needlessly subjects countless more to these exact same indignities.”
Kavanaugh, for his part, suggested stops in which agents use force could yet face legal challenges.
Chicago enforcement sparks confusion
The Supreme Court’s decision comes as ICE agents also threaten stepped up enforcement in Chicago.
Blasting so-called sanctuary laws in Chicago and Illinois, the latest effort targets people without legal permission to live in the U.S. who have criminal records. Like other Trump administration plans, it was stamped with a splashy name, “Operation Midway Blitz,” and circulated on social media with the mugshots of 11 foreign-born men it said should be deported.
“This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor (JB) Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” said a statement from DHS.
Chicago has been bracing for an influx of immigration agents and possibly the National Guard for two weeks. Numerous protests have cropped up downtown, outside a suburban military base DHS plans to use and at an immigration processing center that’s expected to be a hub of activity.
Should you carry your passport?
So what should you do if you are concerned you could be stopped or detained by ICE, regardless of your status?
Attorney Layla Suleiman González said those who might be concerned should consider carrying their passport.
“I think yes, it’s better to carry your passport, that’s the best. But everyone needs to have this very, very clear: you don’t have to answer their questions, you don’t have to say where you’re from, you don’t have to say whether you are a citizen or not,” she told Telemundo Chicago. “You don’t have to talk to them or give them any information. They are the ones who have to prove who you are. The truth is they have taken so many people who are citizens. And even when they say, ‘I’m a citizen, I’m a citizen,’ they still get taken anyway.”
The U.S. government notes that the most common forms of proof of citizenship include:
• Birth Certificate• U.S. Passport• Certificate of Citizenship• Naturalization Certificate
What will the SCOTUS ruling mean?
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.
Federal 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 ICE agents can use at least some of those factors in combination with others, and Kavanaugh said apparent ethnicity could be a relevant factor for a stop.
The Department of Homeland Security said last week that authorities had made 5,210 immigration arrests since June 6 and praised the work of its lead commander there, Gregory Bovino, whose “success in getting the worst of the worst out of the Los Angeles region speaks for itself.” Bovino is expected to play a role in Chicago’s enforcement efforts, NBC 5 Investigates has learned.
Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the Supreme Court decision will fuel aggressive immigration enforcement in other major cities.
“The Supreme Court majority makes clear that average non-white workers are targets, and it functionally gives its stamp of approval for Trump to trample their bedrock constitutional rights,” he said.
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 and pressed against a metal fence with his arm twisted behind his back as he yelled: “I was born here in the States. East LA, bro!”
A terrified 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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