Border Patrol must not profile people. Federal judge’s ruling is correct | Opinion

The rule of law — something the Trump administration outright ignores in its pursuit to unleash the “greatest deportation operation in American history” — does mean something in the nation’s agricultural heartland.

In a significant ruling by a federal judge, the U.S. Border Patrol will be prohibited from making any arrests in Central California unless the agents have a warrant or suspect a person might flee before a warrant can be obtained.

“You just can’t walk up to people with brown skin and say ‘Give me your papers,’” federal Judge Jennifer L. Thurston said during Monday’s hearing at the Robert E. Coyle Federal Courthouse in downtown Fresno.

The ruling applies to the Eastern District of California, which ranges from Kern County to the Oregon border and east of coastal counties with 8 million residents.

The federal judge ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern and Southern California and the United Farm Workers. They sued the federal government in February alleging the Border Patrol’s “Return to Sender” immigration enforcement action in January violated federal law and the Fourth Amendment constitutional rights of five Kern County residents.

The immigration enforcement, in which about 60 agents from the El Centro Sector traveled hundreds of miles north to Kern County, took place while President Biden was still in office. However, the lawsuit was filed against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump administration officials with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Border Patrol.

“Today’s order affirms the dignity and constitutional rights of all people,” ACLU attorney Bree Bernwanger said in a statement. “Border Patrol must end their illegal stops and arrest practices now.”

There are approximately 332,000 undocumented immigrants in the San Joaquin Valley, according to t he Migration Policy Institute, where many work in the fields. Thus, the Border Patrol action that resulted in the arrest of at least 78 people sent shock waves throughout the Valley. Many farm workers and day laborers were detained on their way to work near public areas.

The lawsuit said the agents’ conduct during the operation was “racial profiling.”

Why court ruling matters

“They stopped us because we look Latino or like farm workers, because of the color of our skin. It was unfair,” said plaintiff María Guadalupe Hernández Espinoza in Monday’s hearing.

Law enforcement, including the Border Patrol, must abide by the law. Persons can’t be arrested based solely on their skin color. Otherwise, any resident who has legal residency status but shares the same skin color as a suspected undocumented immigrant will come under suspicion. That in turn can lead to harassment, racial profiling and worse.

Thurston also said any immigration enforcement operations in the district must comply with Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. She also directed that all 900 Border Patrol agents in the El Centro Sector be retrained, and that plaintiffs’ counsel get reports on all immigration enforcement activities in the district within 60 days and every 60 days.

We have witnessed federal immigration officials deport hundreds of suspected criminals — many of them thought to be members of the Tren de Aragua or MS-13 gangs — to prisons in El Salvador, only to discover that some of them have a legal right to be in the country.

The Trump administration has dodged court decisions asking it to facilitate the return of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported.

Tuesday’s ruling should serve notice to the Trump administration that this is a country of laws, and that it is not above them.

This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 3:16 PM.