Although it is obvious that ICE uses racial profiling in its immigration operations in Los Angeles, the Supreme Court validated the practice by temporarily lifting the restrictions imposed on agents by lower courts. This allows the Trump administration to conduct indiscriminate arrests and raids based on factors such as race or ethnicity, the language people speak, whether they speak English with an accent, their job, or where they are at the time of the raid.

The order is not a final ruling, but it is also not surprising given that the conservative-majority high court has become a rubber stamp for the Trump administration, endorsing some of its most extreme policies. And it is outrageous that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, downplays the use of racial profiling, calling it “common sense” that ethnicity is “a relevant factor” in determining “reasonable suspicion.”

He added: “With respect to arrests of individuals who are legally present in the country, questioning in these circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals can be released quickly after clarifying to immigration officials that they are U.S. citizens or legally present in the United States.” That's not what happens in the real world.

In other words, ICE has carte blanche to violate the Constitution and protections against unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment. And it can continue racial profiling in Los Angeles, with its 8 million Hispanics who speak English, with or without an accent, and work in all kinds of jobs, from selling corn on the cob to the highest executives of private companies and public officials.

Furthermore, it's to be expected that discrimination will not be limited to Los Angeles because ICE operations are nationwide. The Supreme Court's action is an assault on Latinos across the country, whether they are citizens or not.

Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the Central District of California had ruled that ICE agents must have a "reasonable suspicion" that a person is undocumented, without relying solely on their skin color or whether they speak Spanish.The court has thus barred officers from using racial profiling while a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups and citizens and authorized residents who were detained as part of Trump’s sweeping raids proceeds through the courts. The high court blocked Frimpong’s ruling while the lawsuit proceeds, and the case makes its way back to the Supreme Court for a decision on the merits. But it’s clear where the balance is tipping. Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California who represents the plaintiffs, said the decision “is a devastating setback for our plaintiffs and communities, who for months have been subjected to immigration enforcement based on the color of their skin, their occupation, or the language they speak.” The ruling adds fuel to the fire at a time when the Trump administration has intensified its raids not only in Los Angeles but in other parts of the country and when its campaign to exert military control in Democratic cities under the guise of The fight against crime has expanded to Chicago and Baltimore.

Thus, Trump has not only declared war on Democratic cities but also on Latinos, who will be the most affected by the use of racial profiling.

The court's three liberal justices opposed the decision, and it was the only Hispanic justice on the high court, Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote that “we should not have to live in a country where the government can detain anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and has a low-paying job. Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.”