Ninth Circuit Court Allows Border Patrol to Continue Raids * * by Cristina Laila

On Monday, a federal appeals court decided that border patrol agents are permitted to continue their raids in California. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals removed an injunction that had been placed by a judge appointed by Biden the previous year, which had prevented federal agents from detaining individuals without ‘reasonable suspicion.’

Last year, federal agents carried out extensive immigration raids on farms in California, leading to a significant legal dispute. According to Courthouse News reported:

On Monday, a Ninth Circuit panel delivered a blow to an agricultural workers’ union by lifting a preliminary injunction that had restricted Border Patrol agents from detaining people without reasonable suspicion of immigration law violations.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston, appointed by Joe Biden, had established this preliminary injunction in April 2025. However, the Department of Homeland Security argued that the United Farm Workers of America lacked the standing to continue its class action challenging the enforcement operations in California’s Central Valley, which aimed to detain and arrest farm workers allegedly in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights.

In support of the government, the three-judge panel concluded in their four-page ruling that “the district court considered only plaintiffs’ allegations of past harm. Although past harm may support standing to seek damages, it does not, on its own, establish standing to seek prospective injunctive relief.”

The panel also noted that the United Farm Workers needed to demonstrate a likelihood of future harm to justify a preliminary injunction. During oral arguments, they found no substantial evidence supporting the union’s claims that the department’s routine infringement of its clients’ Fourth Amendment rights indicated future injury.