Month: September 2025

US Supreme Court Ruling Enables Racial Profiling in Immigration Enforcement

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on September 8, 2025, allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles to use “racial profiling, language, and ethnic origin” as criteria for arrests, a decision that bolsters the Republican administration’s immigration policies, reports 24brussels.

This ruling favors immigration enforcement over civil liberties, overturning previous restrictions set by District Judge Maame Frimpong who had aimed to protect the constitutional rights of Los Angeles residents. The high court’s decision sidesteps civil liberties concerns, reflecting a trend towards upholding aggressive immigration measures.

Frimpong had determined that ICE agents should not discriminate based on language, job type, or location, a position the court dismissed as unnecessarily restrictive. Justice Sonia Sotomayor expressed alarm, asserting that the ruling effectively makes all Latinos in low-wage jobs vulnerable to deportation.

Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the decision as lacking a valid rationale, calling it “outrageous.” This pattern of the Supreme Court overturning lower court protections for migrants is not new. In June 2025, the court rendered an order allowing mass deportations to third countries without prior warning, disregarding the protective measures previously established by federal Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts.

Concurrent with the Supreme Court’s rulings, the Biden administration has intensified anti-immigrant operations in cities like Boston and Chicago, challenging local sanctuary policies that prohibit cooperation with ICE. Furthermore, there are indications that the National Guard and military personnel may be deployed to assist these operations, a move that has faced significant backlash from experts and advocates labeling it as “illegal.”

The Department of Justice has escalated its confrontations by suing Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, over her administration’s migrant community protection policies. According to recent data from Syracuse University researcher Austin Kocher, the U.S. currently detains over 61,200 migrants, marking the highest rate of incarceration in years, with nearly half lacking any criminal record.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has announced that the United States will not participate in the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of human rights scheduled for November, further complicating the international context surrounding the U.S. immigration policies.