On July 11, 2025, a federal judge in the Central District of California issued a temporary restraining order setting forth the legal standard federal agents must follow when stopping and detaining someone without a warrant for immigration enforcement. Ventura County lies within the Central District, making the order temporarily binding on federal agents operating here.


The judge’s order prohibits federal agents from stopping and detaining individuals solely on the basis of their race, the language they speak, the location they are in, and the type of work they perform. The court found that agents can utilize one or more of these factors to form the reasonable suspicion necessary to stop someone, but only when the factors are accompanied by other concrete, objective facts and rational inferences. In other words, agents have to rely on more than a hunch when stopping someone; they have to possess specific, articulable facts that will withstand judicial scrutiny and are not based on broad generalizations. The court found that federal agents cannot rely upon generalizations alone to stop someone, such as speaking with an accent or in Spanish, or are at a certain location, because doing so would cast suspicion upon large swaths of law-abiding citizens.


The judge’s written order identified several other key points:


—The federal government may conduct large scale immigration enforcement. Requiring law enforcement to comply with the Constitution does not prevent law enforcement from enforcing immigration law.


—All individuals, regardless of immigration status, share in the rights guaranteed by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, including the right to counsel and to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures.


—An unreasonable seizure can occur when one or more officers show a threatening presence by displaying weapons, physically touching individuals and using language and a tone of voice that suggests compliance is compulsory.


—It is unlawful to prevent people from having access to lawyers who can help them in immigration court and therefore certain detained individuals must be given reasonable access to their attorneys and confidential, free telephone calls.


A notice of appeal has been filed challenging the order, which may temporarily block its implementation. However, as the Ventura County District Attorney and Public Defender, we want all Ventura County residents to be informed of the ruling and to know their rights while the temporary restraining order is in effect in our community. As officers of the court responsible for public safety, our shared legal mission remains informing our clients, our community members and law enforcement about legal decisions and constitutional rulings to ensure compliance with the Constitution and the rule of law.


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