Supreme Court decision will turn communities into immigration hunting grounds

September 12, 2025

OPINION by GEORGE GALVIS

The Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to resume racially motivated immigration raids across Los Angeles turns our neighborhoods into hunting grounds where masked agents with military weapons can kidnap people based solely on the color of their skin or their accent.

By overturning lower court protections against racial profiling, the court’s extremist majority has given federal agents permission to kidnap anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, or works an honest job to support their family.

The highest court in the land sanctioning racial profiling will result in further erosion of public trust in law enforcement and the imprisonment and/or deportation of more brown bodies, U.S. citizens included.

ICE’s “operation at large” has already terrorized our communities — agents are tear-gassing crowds, tackling workers without asking questions, and detaining U.S. citizens indefinitely simply because they couldn’t immediately recall which hospital they were born in. Children are already afraid to attend school. Workers are afraid to show up to their jobs.

U.S. citizens are being forced to carry documentation proving their legitimacy. This decision will spread fear like wildfire through our communities.

No human is illegal on stolen land. Our neighbors shouldn’t have to live in fear of being hunted by their own government while walking to work or school.

We call on California leaders to take immediate action to protect residents from this federal overreach. We demand sanctuary policies that prioritize community safety and wellbeing over Trump’s deportation machine, and we will continue building community defense networks to document and resist these unconstitutional raids.

George Galvis is the executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice.