Ninth Circuit lets Border Patrol continue immigration stops in California

A Ninth Circuit panel lifted a preliminary injunction that had barred Border Patrol from detaining people in California's Central Valley without reasonable suspicion, ruling the United Farm Workers of America failed to show standing for injunctive relief because it demonstrated only past harm, not future injury. The underlying claims — that agents swept up nearly 200 people in a January 2025 operation called Return to Sender based on racial profiling rather than reasonable suspicion — remain alive on remand.

The union says the operation, which hit Kern County agricultural areas days before Trump's inauguration, bussed detainees to a station in El Centro without regard to flight-risk evidence, and that most of the roughly 40 people deported had lived in the U.S. for years. The unanimous panel included appointees of Carter, Obama and Trump, and left open the door for a new injunction if further harm is alleged.

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