Immigration Ruling Clarified -Ventura County DA and public defender provide update - Ojai Valley News

• Claudia Y. Bautista, Ventura County Public Defender & Erik Nasarenko, Ventura County District Attorney

• Aug 14, 2025 Updated Aug 14, 2025

  
  

In an effort to keep our community informed of the latest immigration-related court rulings, we wanted Ventura County residents to know that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently upheld the temporary restraining order put into place last month prohibiting federal agents from conducting stops or arrests based solely on race, language spoken, occupation, or being present at certain locations.  

Ventura County is one of seven Southern California counties where this restraint on government action remains in effect and is part of a region, the court noted, where 47% of the population, or more than 9 million people, self-identify as Latino or Hispanic.  This demographic information was critical to the court’s analysis.

The Ninth Circuit court found that federal agents must possess specific knowledge that the individual person they are stopping and detaining is in the country unlawfully.  

The court went on to highlight specific scenarios that, taken alone, do not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion necessary to comply with the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures.  

For example, being at a location — like a Home Depot, car wash, or bus stop — is not enough by itself to justify a detention. These locations are not used exclusively by undocumented workers, but are common to “legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and U.S. citizens alike.”  

Similarly, the court held that the type of work the individual performs is only “marginally relevant” to create reasonable suspicion, even when the work site has been known to employ undocumented immigrants.

Additionally, physical appearance alone at a job site cannot inform federal agents whether the person is with or without legal status. Reasonable suspicion must be formed as to the individual rather than cast broadly upon all workers. The court also held that federal agents may continue to draw upon their training and experience and evaluate certain information through their expertise. 

However, federal agents must still be able to articulate specific facts that support a belief that a particular person stopped is committing or has committed an offense.  

The court also found that commands and questions like: “Stop right there,” “Are you an American?” and “What hospital were you born in?”  may be unlawful in encounters between federal agents and civilians.

This portion of the opinion, as well as others, are consistent with our own understanding and practice of Fourth Amendment law in Ventura County and serve as constitutional safeguards for local law enforcement, prosecutors, and public defenders.

As the District Attorney and Public Defender, we will continue to update Ventura County residents about these legal proceedings. The court specifically noted that “the terms of the injunction should be clear enough to be understood by a lay person, not just by lawyers and judges.”