The Chevron gas station on Seventh Standard Road was one of the first places to get raided during Border Patrols “Operation return to sender” a case that shined a light on wrongful detainment. Now, a recent ruling says the same thing happened up north.
63 pages and it essentially boils down to one point, Border Patrol agents did not detain people lawfully in the 2025 ICE raids.
It started in January when Kern County became ground zero for the raids.
Soon after, the UFW filed a preliminary injunction that ultimately requires agents to have clear, individualized justification for detentions and properly document each stop.
On April 1, U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston ruled that Border Patrol agents violated that order during raids in Kern County and Sacramento. Judge Thurston wrote, quote:
“The evidence showed that agents stopped non-citizens and citizens alike for doing little more than having a certain skin color while conversing with others, working as a gardener, driving home from work or stopping for gas,”
“Agents detained these people, demanded to see their ‘papers’ and questioned them about their immigration status all without any legal basis for doing so.”
When asked, agents said it was “common knowledge” that illegal aliens are often there.
An email response from a UFW representative reads in part, “This ruling upholds what we have said all along. It’s not lawful to stop people and perform warrantless detention or arrests on people for looking brown or working class, and that officers can’t use stereotypes or hunches instead of documentable reasonable suspicion.”
23ABC reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment, but have not received a response.
The court clarified that any agent conducting a stop must personally document the facts and circumstances, explain the background factors in sufficient detail for review, as well as sign and date the final justification to ensure it is true and correct.
The UFW goes on to say that while the ruling isn’t a complete solution, it is a step in the right direction as there hasn’t been a repeat of the 2025 raids.
The case is still active in federal court, with the next hearing date scheduled for April 22.
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