ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles sweeps

A federal judge in Los Angeles issued a temporary order barring US immigration authorities from stopping people for questioning without cause, the latest fallout from the Trump administration's controversial crackdown on migrants.

A temporary restraining order sought by a group of Southern California residents, workers and advocacy groups was granted Friday by US district judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong.

The judge barred agents in the Los Angeles area from stopping and questioning individuals without reasonable suspicion that they're in the US illegally. The order forbids the agents from basing their suspicion on race, ethnicity, speaking Spanish, speaking English with an accent, the type of the work they do or where they are located.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department of homeland security, said "a district judge is undermining the will of the Americans."

The groups argued that officials "must have an objective, particularized basis" to believe that a person is in the US illegally before they can stop them and require they answer questions. To do otherwise, they alleged, amounts to illegal racial profiling.