L.A. immigrants fear the worst after Supreme Court ruling: ‘It’s going to get ugly’

In a county where one in three residents are immigrants, a sense of anger and dread erupted Monday as noncitizens and their families realized the immigration raids that rocked their lives this summer could become a never-ending nightmare.

Monday’s Supreme Court order gave the green light to what critics called “indiscriminate” immigration stops that led to thousands of arrests and set off days of protests in the Los Angeles area. The federal government now says it will continue in earnest.

“DHS law enforcement will continue to FLOOD THE ZONE in Los Angeles,” the Department of Homeland Security declared on X shortly after the ruling.

A raft of immigrant rights groups, Democratic politicians and lawyers denounced the ruling. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it “dangerous” and an “attack on every person in every city in this country.” Gov. Gavin Newsom said the “hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles.”

Some fear agents could become even more aggressive during the raids — which have led to at least two documented deaths.

The order comes just as the Trump administration vows to ramp up raids in sanctuary cities across the country, including Chicago this week.

“They’ve been given carte blanche to go after anyone,” said Maegan Ortiz, the executive director of a nonprofit group that works with day laborers. “My real concern is that it’s going to get ugly.”

In Los Angeles, nowhere was the sting felt more keenly than at the car washes and Home Depots targeted by Border Patrol agents throughout the late spring and summer — where they have continued to arrest people even after a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to sweeps that use race as a factor to stop individuals. The ruling Monday gave authorities the go-ahead to continue operating with those tactics, while the issues are litigated in the lower courts.

“Personally, this is persecuting me and my family,” said Pepe Morales, 55, a father of four who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years and periodically comes to the Home Depot in Westlake to get work supplies and find jobs. The site has been raided at least four times; the last time agents used non-lethal projectiles and tear gas, advocates said.

“My kids realize everything going on,” he said. “I’m worried how that’ll affect them psychologically. They’re not respecting kids or anyone.

“A lot of people are worried. The whole community,” Morales said. “Vamos a ver hambres, muertes. [We are going to see hunger, deaths.]”

At the height of the raids, community groups organized to bring food to immigrants who had hunkered down in their homes. Business slumped in many Latino communities, and many say it hasn’t returned. Families were split, children dragged into detention alone, even citizens were detained.

The administration touted going after “the worst of the worst,” but an analysis from The Times showed that the majority of those arrested had no criminal conviction.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the ruling was “a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law.”

“DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor,” she said in a statement.

Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol agent who has been leading the effort, posted on X that his agents “are going hard in Los Angeles today,” and he mocked the ruling on sweeps in Los Angeles as a “poorly written” temporary restraining order, the “worst I’ve ever seen.”

Bovino wrote in another post that “these are lawful stops based on a hundred years of case law and Border Patrol expertise.”

The ruling Monday is chilling for those who rely on immigrant workers to fuel their industry. Already farmers, building contractors, restaurant owners and others fret over a future where their workforce is afraid to clock in.

Elizabeth Strater, a national vice president of United Farm Workers, said the logistics of keeping employees safe from raids are going to become more important. Her group is among several plaintiffs that brought a lawsuit against Border Patrol for raids near farms in Kern county in January and also a plaintiff in the lawsuit in L.A that secured the temporary restraining order.

“Every employer needs to take responsibility for protecting their worker’s rights,” she said. “Put a gate there if you need to, have a door that locks, have a protocol in place. If they don’t have a warrant they can’t come on site and terrorize.”

As of Monday, around 81 car washes had been raided and nearly 250 workers taken from those businesses, according to Flor Melendrez, the executive director of the Clean Carwash Worker Center.

“The raids are getting more violent, workers are getting hurt, workers are dying,” Melendrez said at a Monday afternoon news conference outside a Home Depot in Westlake. “Let this be your call to action, to stand with our community, to stand with workers.”

In Los Angeles, whole commercial areas have been hollowed out during the raids. The Flower Mart saw business in freefall. Workers were deported, including many parents. In California, one of every five children live in a mixed status family. In Los Angeles County, where one out of every 10 people is an undocumented immigrant and nearly half are Latino, the operations have felt to many like a deeply personal affront.

“It’s a setback for all Latinos and for all immigrants,” said Alfonso Barragan, 62, as he arrived at the Home Depot in Hollywood on Monday morning to buy material for work.

“The Supreme Court is turning a blind eye to the injustice that’s happening to immigrants, who are essential workers in the U.S.”

Barragan, an American citizen who installs televisions and sets up sound systems, said the decision takes away their due process rights by allowing federal agents to snatch people up simply because of the color of their skin or how they talk.

The Supreme Court decision can be traced back to mid-July when the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Public Counsel sued the Department of Homeland Security over the raids on behalf of several immigrant rights groups, three immigrants picked up at a bus stop and two U.S. citizens. The attorneys argued that the racially charged stops violated the 4th Amendment.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a temporary ban on “roving patrols” where agents nabbed people off Southern California streets based on their skin color, the language spoken, their vocation and where they are located. Frimpong determined that using those factors alone or in combination to form “reasonable suspicion” did not meet constitutional requirements.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to strike down the temporary restraining order as the lawsuit continues its way through the district and appellate courts. The ultimate decision on whether the immigration agents’ tactics violate the Constitution could ultimately come back to the high court.

In a post on X, Bill Essayli, Trump’s top federal prosecutor in L.A., said the government had argued “the order was overly broad, aiming to hinder our ability to apprehend and remove illegal immigrants in Los Angeles.”

“We are a nation of laws. Federal law enforcement is non-negotiable and cannot be curtailed by any court,” Essayli wrote. “If plaintiffs disagree with immigration laws, they should address Congress, not a single judge.”

Frimpong’s restraining order covered Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. At the time, it appeared it would end the raids. Although the arrests dwindled, smaller operations at car washes and outside Home Depots continued.

Immigration authorities, who often face bystanders yelling at them and recording their operations, say they are simply enforcing the law.

“Over half of our agents are Hispanic, there is nothing racist about a Hispanic officer arresting anybody from another country whether it be Central America or South America, whether it be an African or European country, we’re gonna do the job the way that Congress has allowed us to do the job,” said Paul Perez, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 16,500 Border Patrol agents.

“We’re not stopping anybody just because of the color of their skin. …We are not doing anything that the law doesn’t allow.”

But in communities where the raids occurred, it means a full-scale resumption of fears that had only slightly faded.

Angel Pineda, 47, a Honduran immigrant who comes to the Home Depot in Westlake every day in search of work, has escaped four raids in the last few months.

With each enforcement operation, the number of day laborers who show up has dwindled, said Pineda as he stood beneath a blazing sun. On Monday, he looked around the parking lot that used to be filled with 300 to 400 workers daily. Now, he usually counts about 50. Many of the men who used to look for work alongside him have been arrested. But he continues to return because he needs to pay rent.

“Now, it’s going to be even more complicated,” he said, after learning of the Supreme Court decision. “With the authorization of the court, Trump is going to send more people to grab immigrants.”

Times staff writer Sonja Sharp contributed to this story.