USSC Insider | Supreme Court clears the way for DHS to “flood the zone” on immigration

10 September 2025

This week, the US Supreme Court said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can continue its “roving patrols” in California after granting a stay to halt a US District Court decision that barred the activities. The District Court of Central California had ruled that the patrols may violate the Fourth Amendment protection against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” While there was not a full ruling of the Supreme Court because it was an emergency matter, Justice Brett Kavanaugh offered some explanation in his concurring opinion, citing the Immigration and Nationality Act giving immigration officers the right to “interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to remain in the United States” if there is “a reasonable suspicion, based on specific articulable facts.”

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles were the catalyst for the protests in June, which led President Trump to send the National Guard and US Marines to the city to quell the unrest. The District Court of Northern California ruled this deployment was illegal, but the Trump administration is appealing this ruling. Even though the court has ruled the National Guard deployment illegal, President Trump is still talking about sending the National Guard to Chicago to “fix” the city, although his messaging has been cagey, going from memes to saying he is waiting on a request from the city first.

In response to the Supreme Court decision this week, DHS posted on X that “DHS law enforcement will continue to FLOOD THE ZONE in Los Angeles.” Flooding the zone on immigration is exactly what they are doing. DHS announced “Operation Midway Blitz” on Monday, to target undocumented immigrants in Chicago with criminal records. Last week an ICE raid at a Hyundai-LG car battery plant in Georgia detained 475 workers, most of whom are South Korean nationals. Only two weeks after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, his team have confirmed they will send a charter plane to send the South Korean nationals home.

While Trump is downplaying some of his language where he gets blowback, it looks like it is full steam ahead for the DHS following their Supreme Court win.

Mari Koeck
Director, Engagement and Impact

Lead photo: An officer speaks to a protester during an Anti-ICE rally in Los Angeles in August.
Photo by Benjamin Hanson for Middle East Images, via Getty)

"I love the smell of deportations
in the morning."

President Trump in Truth Social post about Chicago | 7 September 2025

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