FAIR Defends Immigration Stops in the Ninth Circuit
Shows lower-court injunction violates the Constitution
(Aug.21, 2025, Washington, D.C.) The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), has filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) in its conduct of street stops of suspected illegal aliens. A California federal district court had issued an injunction making it much more difficult than before for ICE to make such stops.
The district court barred ICE from basing brief investigative stops on four factors, either singly or in combination: 1) “apparent race or ethnicity,” 2) “speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent,” 3) “presence at a particular location,” such as a “day laborer pick up site,” and 4) “the type of work one does.”
As FAIR points out in its brief, however, the standard under the Fourth Amendment for brief investigative stops is reasonable suspicion, a standard even lower than probable cause, which is necessary for an arrest. By barring ICE from considering factors that would make anyone—let alone a trained and experienced officer—reasonably suspect a person was an illegal alien, the district court elevated this standard far above what the Constitution requires.
“The Fourth Amendment requires that brief investigative stops be reasonable, that and no more,” said Christopher J. Hajec, deputy general counsel of FAIR. “It certainly does not require that officers abandon their common sense.”
“The kinds of stops at issue here are a vital tool of immigration law enforcement,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of FAIR. “The district court intruded outrageously into that enforcement when it made ICE officials ignore their reasonable suspicions or face contempt of court. We hope the Court sees the baselessness of this injunction, and overturns it.”
The case is Noem v. Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, No. 25-4312 (Ninth Circuit).
