Attorney General Bonta Supports Litigation to Block Unlawful Immigration Arrests without a Warrant

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today filed an amicus brief in support of litigation challenging Immigration and Custom Enforcement's (ICE) unlawful policy and practice of warrantless civil immigration arrests without probable cause. In the brief, Attorney General Bonta, co-leading a multistate coalition, highlights the harms of the Trump Administration's mass deportation campaign, an integral part of which is unlawful warrantless arrests. The consequences of these actions reverberate far beyond the individuals seized: Families are destabilized, workplaces disrupted, schools strained, local economies unsettled, and essential state and local services - including healthcare, education, and public safety - are hindered.

"The Trump Administration has sought to instill fear in immigrant communities through indiscriminate, sweeping, and often baseless immigration arrests," said Attorney General Bonta. "This violates the law - and basic human decency. In California, we've seen firsthand the devastation wrought by the Trump Administration's destructive mass deportation agenda. We will always stand up for the rights of our immigrant communities and communities across the country."

California has experienced the harms of ICE's aggressive and unlawful immigration enforcement practices, including declines in school attendance, farm operations, public health, economic security, and public trust between communities and state and local law enforcement.

On January 7, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Border Patrol began a large-scale raid called "Operation Return to Sender" in Kern County, which resulted in the arrest of 78 people for allegedly not having lawful immigration status. During the operation, Border Patrol carried out arbitrary roving patrols and warrantless arrests throughout the predominantly Latino areas of Kern County and surrounding areas. Impacts from these raids reverberated throughout the community, with school attendance dropping and people too fearful to go to work. Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of litigation brought by United Farmworkers and a class of individuals concerning DHS's practices during this operation.

In June of 2025, DHS began another operation, "Operation at Large," in Los Angeles, similarly sweeping through city streets and carrying out suspicionless stops and warrantless arrests. These raids, too, deeply affected the community - business districts turned to ghost towns, community events like fireworks shows and graduation ceremonies were cancelled, and local law enforcement contended with the confusion caused by DHS's aggressive tactics and the fear it stoked in the public. Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief in support of a temporary restraining order to stop ICE and CBP from engaging in unconstitutional stops during Operation at Large.

In today's brief, Attorney General Bonta continues his support for challenges to DHS's aggressive tactics, co-leading a multistate coalition in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to uphold the lower court's order prohibiting ICE from conducting civil immigration arrests in Colorado without a warrant if the ICE officer does not have probable cause that the individual is both violating the law and that the individual is an escape risk, as is required by the Immigration and Nationality Act and federal regulations. The coalition argues Congress has placed clear limits on immigration agents' authority to make warrantless arrests, requiring individualized probable cause of both removability and a likelihood of escape. ICE has repeatedly ignored these limits, resulting in unlawful arrests, improper detentions, and chaotic enforcement practices across the country. The coalition also highlights the harms resulting from these enforcement practices, which undermine the public safety, education, health and economy of their residents.

Attorney General Bonta has fought back against the Trump Administration's unlawful militarized immigration enforcement and defended public safety. In addition to amicus briefs challenging DHS's unlawful stops and arrests practices in Kern County and Los Angeles, earlier this year, Attorney General Bonta led an amicus brief in support of Minnesota's lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration's extraordinary campaign of lawlessness during its deployment of federal agents to the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom also secured a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ending the continued federalization and deployment of California National Guard troops in and around Los Angeles.

In filing the brief, Attorney General Bonta and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser lead the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.