LDF Condemns Supreme Court Decision Permitting Continuation of Racial Profiling in Immigration Enforcement

Read a PDF of our statement here.

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's request to pause a lower court's order that barred the government from indiscriminately profiling people while enforcing immigration laws in Los Angeles and surrounding counties.

The Supreme Court's action temporarily stays implementation of a previous ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which prohibited law enforcement officials from making investigative stops based solely on a person's apparent ethnicity or race, their presence at certain locations, their apparent employment, and their ability to speak English or their accent when speaking English. The stay remains in effect until all appeals have been exhausted.

"In a perilous ruling, the Supreme Court threatens to normalize racial profiling and endanger vulnerable communities that are being criminalized because of where they work, how they speak, or what they look like," said Director of Strategic Initiatives Jin Hee Lee. "There is no place for discriminatory enforcement of our laws, including our immigration laws, in a functioning, multiracial democracy. Racial profiling is not only ineffective, it is antithetical to the guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause to treat people equally regardless of their race, ethnicity, or national origin. The Court's decision to stay a lower court's ruling runs counter to the rule of law and equal protection under the law."

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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's first civil rights law organization. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957-although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.