Do they look Hispanic? Do they speak Spanish or English with an accent? Do they have Hispanic names? Do they work in construction or lawn care? Do they pick up day jobs at Home Depot? Does that give rise to reasonable and articulable suspicion that they’re in the United States unlawfully? Central District of California Judge Maame E. Frimpong said no, it was racial profiling and prohibited roving ICE patrols from rounding up all the Hispanic-looking people as if they were “illegal aliens.” The Ninth Circuit affirmed the temporary restraining order.

ICE didn’t care.

The Department of Homeland Security said that the operation, named Trojan Horse, was a “targeted raid” that led to arrests of 16 undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Videos circulating on social media showed agents in tactical vests jumping out of a Penske rental truck in a Home Depot parking lot and then running onto the streets of the Westlake neighborhood, which is home to many Latino immigrants.

If you call the Home Depot parking lot “targeted,” then it was a targeted raid. Otherwise, it was just a roundup of random Hispanics without any basis to believe they were “illegal” other than the fact that they appeared Hispanic and were in the Home Depot parking lot. This was exactly what Judge Frimpong found to be unconstitutional racial profiling.

John Sandweg, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Obama administration, said the operation on Wednesday might have relied on information from informants or other investigative work that could meet the reasonable suspicion requirement.

But that type of raid — storming a parking lot that sends people fleeing in many directions — can complicate the question of whether there is reasonable suspicion. “It is incredibly difficult in these types of operations to make a determination as to whether or not there’s sufficient factors there that would suggest someone’s in the country unlawfully and were deportable,” Mr. Sandweg said.

That this wasn’t just a routine roundup of random Hispanics strains credulity, but it’s all for naught if the people seized by ICE, regardless of their immigration or citizen status, are disappeared and shipped out, without any opportunity to challenge their seizure, incarceration or removal. And just as masked ICE agents break car windows, grab women off the street, seize and detain American citizens and ship them off to foreign countries with neither basis nor opportunity to be heard, engaging in racial profiling by rounding up Hispanics will happen regardless of whether a judge prohibits it.

And the person claiming to serve as Acting United States Attorney, Trump sycophant Bill Essayli, fails to consider the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution a hurdle.

The acting U.S. attorney for Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, delivered a pointed message on social media after Wednesday’s raid. “For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again,” he wrote. “The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”

As argued with regard to Judges Boasberg and Xinis, whose orders were ignored by the Department of Justice with, as of now, impunity, the same appears to be happening with Judge Frimpong’s order. From its perspective, ICE seems to operate with impunity from the law and Constitution. Add to the mix that Trump’s BBB triples ICE’s budget and seeks to add an additional 10,000 agents, including inducements like $50,000 signing bonuses.

Want to mass deport illegals from Los Angeles? https://t.co/V85TxpXaTG today and get a 50K signing/retention bonus. Make your family proud and be the hero America needs. https://t.co/a9J8D3sade

— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) August 2, 2025

The government has now asked the Supreme Court to stay the TRO.

The Trump administration urged the high court to block that decision as it continues to aggressively crack down on illegal immigration.

“No one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion,” the Justice Department told the Supreme Court. “But in many situations, such factors – alone or in combination – can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States.”

Immigration agents, the Justice Department said, should be “entitled to rely on these factors when ramping up enforcement of immigration laws.”

In other words, the government is arguing that speaking Spanish or working in construction, “alone or in combination,” is sufficient to round up the brown folks.

In the zeal to seize and deport millions of “illegals,” Trump and his henchman, Stephen Miller, have constructed a paramilitary force that operates outside the law and without constraint. For those who hate either undocumented immigrants or Hispanics, this might not bother you, but should this force that operates with impunity start seizing anyone who appears “ethnic,” angers Trump or pisses off an ICE agent, it might turn out to be someone you know, even love.

It’s a fundamental precept in the United States that law enforcement operate within the law and be subject to the orders of the courts. If that’s not the case with ICE, which is morphing into the dominant agency in the federal government, don’t be surprised when it turns on you or someone you know or love. And don’t be surprised when you realize that there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.