Professor Johnson Comments for S.F. Chronicle, CalMatters About Supreme Court Allowing Roving Immigration Stops

Professor Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the S.F. Chronicle and CalMatters about the Supreme Court's ruling this week that allows roving immigration stops to resume in Los Angeles.

The Supreme Court agreed with the Trump administration in its challenge to a temporary restraining order issued over the summer. A federal judge in Los Angeles issued the order in July that stopped federal immigration officials from using race, ethnicity, language and location or employment as reasonable suspicion to detain individuals. The decision is not a final ruling by the Supreme Court but instead lifts lower-court orders prohibiting the policy.

Johnson told CalMatters, “The Trump administration’s campaign against people of color goes well beyond immigration law and immigrants. As exemplified by the administration’s war on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the President has sought to eliminate programs that seek to promote the full integration of racial and other minorities into U.S. society,” 

In the S.F. Chronicle, Johnson provided context to the Supreme Court's ruling that echoed a decision in 1975. Johnson said that ruling in the 1970s allowed Border Patrol agents to identify Mexican appearance as a reason to suspect illegal immigration that "has led to what many see as widespread racial profiling in immigration enforcement, including that by the Trump administration in Los Angeles."

Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson is the director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies and also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law and civil rights.