Border Patrol agents descend from a C-17 plane after loading migrants to be deported back to Guatemala on Jan. 30, 2025 at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. The aircraft is designed to transport 134 passengers, but only carried 80 migrants.
Fresno, California – A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the U.S. Border Patrol from conducting warrantless immigration stops and arrests across California’s Eastern District, citing violations of constitutional protections and “widespread misconduct.”
The ruling, handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer L. Thurston, comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of United Farm Workers and several residents of Kern County. The lawsuit followed a January Border Patrol operation—dubbed “Operation Return to Sender”—that saw agents travel hundreds of miles from the El Centro sector to Kern County, where they arrested nearly 80 individuals over several days.
The court found that Border Patrol agents conducted stops without reasonable suspicion and made arrests without probable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The injunction halts those practices while the case proceeds through the courts.
“You just can’t walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers,’” Judge Thurston said during a heated hearing Monday in Fresno, underscoring the racial profiling alleged in the suit.
According to sworn statements and media investigations, agents targeted farm workers and day laborers near convenience stores, on roadways between orchards, and in parking lots, including a Home Depot frequented by workers seeking jobs. A CalMatters report found that 77 of the 78 people arrested had no prior criminal or immigration record known to Border Patrol at the time of their detention.
The ruling prohibits agents from stopping individuals without a “reasonable suspicion” of immigration violations and bars warrantless arrests unless probable cause exists that the individual will flee before a warrant can be obtained. It also requires the El Centro sector to provide documentation of all stops within 60 days and regularly prove that agents have received constitutional rights training.
The Department of Justice attempted to argue that the January raids were isolated incidents and not reflective of broader policy. “This two-day operation does not a policy make,” DOJ attorney Olga Y. Kuchins said. But Judge Thurston disagreed, noting, “The evidence is that this was wide scale.”
Despite claims from federal attorneys that retraining is underway, Thurston pressed for clarity, questioning why guidance on constitutional standards was even necessary if agents are trained at the academy. She demanded details about how retraining—reportedly given to 270 of the El Centro sector’s 900 agents—was being implemented.
Meanwhile, the ACLU and United Farm Workers celebrated the ruling as a critical affirmation of constitutional limits on immigration enforcement. “It’s not legal to snatch people off the street for looking like farm workers or day laborers,” said Elizabeth Strater, vice president of United Farm Workers.
The ruling follows reports of a similar sweep in Pomona just last week, where agents detained day laborers near a Home Depot. Border Patrol officials claimed the operation targeted a single individual with a warrant, but 10 people were taken into custody.
A full hearing on the case is expected in the coming months, with a scheduling conference set for early June. The preliminary injunction remains in effect until the case is resolved.
