Tipsheet

CA Judge to ICE: You Can't Enforce Immigration Law in the Greater Los Angeles Area

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  July 11, 2025 10:30 PM

Well, Fox News’ Bill Melugin got wind of it yesterday, and now it’s official: a federal judge has blocked virtually all raids executed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement across several counties in southern California. It’s going to be appealed and likely overturned—there’s no way this remains in effect. Last night, Melugin noted that he got wind that a tentative decision blocking ICE operations was written by Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, who sounds like a Star Wars character (via NYT): 

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Friday from making indiscriminate immigration arrests in the Los Angeles area and denying detainees the right to consult with a lawyer, dealing a temporary blow to the president’s high-profile crackdown on immigration.

The judge, in California, granted two temporary restraining orders in response to a lawsuit filed last week by immigrant advocacy groups. A fuller hearing is expected in the coming weeks, but the initial rulings represent a sharp rebuke of the tactics that federal agents have employed in and around Los Angeles during raids, which have entered their second month. 

In the orders, the judge, Maame E. Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, directed agents to stop racial profiling in the course of seeking out immigrants, and mandated that the federal government, which has deployed hundreds of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies in Los Angeles County, ensure detainees have access to legal counsel. 

“What the federal government would have this Court believe — in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case — is that none of this is actually happening,” the judge wrote. 

Let the Trump administration do its thing and fight yet another rogue judge who has handed down an insane ruling that reeks of overreach. The imperial judiciary will not prevail.