Attorney General Bonta Leads Coalition in Opposing Unlawful Immigration Stops in the Central Valley

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today led a coalition of 17 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in United Farm Workers v. Noem, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to keep an injunction in place related to the Border Patrol's unlawful stops and arrests during "Operation Return to Sender," a multiday immigration raid in Kern County earlier this year. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California previously granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting Border Patrol agents from conducting stops without reasonable suspicion and from making warrantless arrests without probable cause that the individual is a flight risk. The District Court also required Border Patrol agents to document the circumstances of their stops and arrests. In urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold the preliminary injunction, the attorneys general highlight the negative impact of these raids, including decreased school attendance, harm to farm operations and local economies, and damaged trust between the community and state and local law enforcement.

"These unlawful stops and warrantless arrests have, unfortunately, become a familiar story for communities in California this past year," said Attorney General Bonta. "The unscrupulous tactics used by Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and his team of agents during raids in Kern County, Los Angeles, and across the nation threaten the basic civil liberties afforded to all who call this country home. I urge the court to block these lawless practices and help protect California communities."

On January 7, 2025, Border Patrol began a large-scale raid called "Operation Return to Sender" in Kern County, which resulted in the arrest of 78 people for allegedly not having lawful immigration status. The operation was led by Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who has since overseen several high-profile and legally questionable raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, and elsewhere. Following the operation, United Farm Workers and a class of individuals filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They later filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Border Patrol from engaging in arbitrary roving patrols through the predominantly Latino areas of Kern County and the surrounding areas to stop, detain, and arrest people of color who appeared to be farm workers or day laborers, regardless of their actual immigration status. The district court granted the preliminary injunction and the federal administration appealed.

In their brief, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that the present preliminary injunctive relief is important to protect Californians, including the people of the Central Valley, and all those who are directly harmed by these deliberately aggressive and unlawful immigration enforcement practices. They highlight that these tactics, if allowed, could potentially exacerbate the harms associated with immigration raids, such as declines in school attendance, farm operations, public health, economic security, and public trust between communities and state and local law enforcement.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to standing up for immigrant communities and fighting militarized raids. He previously led a multistate coalition in seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection from engaging in unlawful stops of Los Angeles residents during immigration sweeps. Just recently, Attorney General Bonta secured a separate decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ending the continued federalization and deployment of California National Guard troops in and around Los Angeles. In August, the Attorney General's Office presented evidence of Posse Comitatus Act violations during a three-day trial before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The Court subsequently granted a permanent injunctionenjoining the Trump Administration from engaging in the same or similar activity in the future. (That order is temporarily paused while the Ninth Circuit considers the federal government's motion for a stay.)

Members of the public can share information with the California Department of Justice regarding potentially unlawful activity by federal agents and officers across the state through a new online portal at https://oag.ca.gov/ReportMisconduct.

In filing the brief, Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.