Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump admin says in court that speaking Spanish & working construction can heighten likelihood someone's unlawfully here
Brian Schatz @brianschatzThis is what Trump Justice Department just said in court. "speaking Spanish or working in construction...can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States." This is explicitly racist and illegal.
___Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to pause a federal judges order prohibiting federal agents from making indiscriminate immigration-related stops in the Los Angeles area.
John Sauer, the U.S. solicitor general and former attorney for President Donald Trump, asserted that a person "speaking Spanish or working construction" does not always rise to reasonable suspicion, but sometimes it does... in many situations, such factorsalone or in combinationcan heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States, above and beyond the 1-in-10 baseline odds in the District," the filing said. "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are entitled to rely on these factors when ramping up enforcement of immigration laws in the District."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/us/politics/trump-supreme-court-los-angeles-immigrants.html
___Trump administration's emergency demand for a stay has set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to allow or prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from stopping, questioning, detaining and potentially arresting people in a "roving" manner in California on the idea that an individual's Hispanic appearance, speaking in Spanish or speaking English with an accent, day labor occupation, and location amount to "reasonable suspicion" of unlawful presence in the country.
The petitioners, led by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and represented by John Sauer, the U.S. solicitor general and former attorney for President Donald Trump, are challenging U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong's block of sweeping and "roving" ICE raids on July 11.
In that temporary restraining order, Frimpong found that the plaintiffs were "likely to succeed in proving that the federal government is indeed conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion" stopping people on the theory that Hispanic appearance, speaking Spanish, and line of work, factored individually or combined, were within the bounds of the law. In addition, the government had denied "access to lawyers," all against the backdrop of an administration "arrest quota of 3,000 arrests per day."
"The factors that defendants appear to rely on for reasonable suspicion seem no more indicative of illegal presence in the country than of legal presence such as working at low-wage occupations such as car wash attendants and day laborers," the judge wrote.
read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-admin-begs-scotus-to-destroy-judges-potential-contempt-trap-and-let-ice-stop-question-spanish-speaking-day-laborers/
6 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump admin says in court that speaking Spanish & working construction can heighten likelihood someone's unlawfully here (Original Post)
bigtree
Aug 2025
OP
riversedge
(81,554 posts)1. "speaking English with an accent," Whow!! This is the one that
got my attention.
jls4561
(3,270 posts)5. Melania speaks with an accent, but is exempt because she'll never do anything constructive.
leftstreet
(41,261 posts)2. ay Dios mio n/t
Response to bigtree (Original post)
Scott Alan Swaggerty This message was self-deleted by its author.
Hey Joe
(815 posts)4. Is that like being in the GOP is almost a
certainly that you are a lying, racist, corrupt sack of shit?
I thought so
..
Ping Tung
(4,370 posts)6. Are people who listen to Mariachi music and eat Huevos Rancheros in danger of alligators?
When I worked in construction my second language was profanity. (Which has lately come back into more use since 2016).
Kick in to the DU tip jar?
This week we're running a special pop-up mini fund drive. From Monday through Friday we're going ad-free for all registered members, and we're asking you to kick in to the DU tip jar to support the site and keep us financially healthy.
As a bonus, making a contribution will allow you to leave kudos for another DU member, and at the end of the week we'll recognize the DUers who you think make this community great.