A federal appeals court has removed a preliminary injunction that limited Border Patrol detention practices in California’s Central Valley, ruling that the United Farm Workers failed to establish the likelihood of future injury necessary to obtain prospective relief.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday lifted a federal injunction that had restricted Border Patrol agents from detaining people in California without reasonable suspicion that they had violated immigration law, handing the Department of Homeland Security a legal victory in a case stemming from immigration enforcement operations targeting agricultural communities.
The ruling allows federal agents to continue immigration stops while litigation over the underlying constitutional claims proceeds.
According to Courthouse News, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel concluded that the United Farm Workers of America had not demonstrated the type of imminent future injury required to justify a preliminary injunction.
The dispute arose after federal immigration agents conducted enforcement operations at farms and agricultural communities in California’s Central Valley, prompting the union to accuse Border Patrol of unlawfully detaining and arresting farm workers in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, issued the preliminary injunction in April 2025.
The order prohibited Border Patrol agents from detaining individuals without reasonable suspicion that they had violated federal immigration laws.
The Department of Homeland Security appealed, arguing that the United Farm Workers lacked standing to obtain prospective injunctive relief.
“A Ninth Circuit panel dealt a setback to an agricultural workers’ union on Monday after it lifted a preliminary injunction prohibiting Border Patrol agents from detaining people without reasonable suspicion they violated immigration laws,” Courthouse News reported.
The government contended that allegations concerning previous encounters with federal agents were insufficient to demonstrate that union members faced an imminent threat of being subjected to the same alleged conduct in the future.
The Ninth Circuit agreed.
In its four-page ruling, the panel said the district court focused on allegations of past harm rather than determining whether the plaintiffs had demonstrated a sufficient likelihood of future injury.
“The district court considered only plaintiffs’ allegations of past harm. Although past harm may support standing to seek damages, it does not, on its own, establish standing to seek prospective injunctive relief,” the judges wrote.
That distinction became central to the appellate court’s decision.
A plaintiff seeking damages can rely on harm that has already occurred, but a party asking a court to prevent future government conduct generally must establish a real and imminent threat that the alleged violation will occur again.
The panel concluded that the United Farm Workers had not met that requirement.
During oral arguments, the union maintained that what it described as a pattern of Fourth Amendment violations by the Department of Homeland Security demonstrated that its members remained at risk of future unlawful stops.
The Ninth Circuit did not find that argument sufficient to preserve the injunction.
“The United Farm Workers also needed to show impending future injury for a preliminary injunction,” Courthouse News reported, noting that the panel rejected the union’s argument that the department’s alleged practice of routinely violating workers’ Fourth Amendment rights established the necessary likelihood of future harm.
The decision does not amount to a final determination that every Border Patrol stop challenged by the union was lawful.
Instead, the Ninth Circuit’s ruling addresses whether the plaintiffs had established the legal standing necessary to obtain a preliminary order restricting future federal enforcement practices while the broader case continues.
The underlying lawsuit grew out of federal immigration operations in California agricultural areas that generated significant controversy over how Border Patrol agents selected individuals for questioning, detention and arrest.
The United Farm Workers argued that workers were subjected to immigration stops without adequate individualized suspicion and sought class-action relief on behalf of those affected.
DHS challenged the union’s ability to obtain an injunction, maintaining that the federal courts could not impose prospective restrictions based solely on allegations concerning previous enforcement operations.
By siding with the government on the standing issue, the Ninth Circuit removed the immediate restriction imposed by Thurston’s 2025 order.
The ruling therefore permits Border Patrol to continue immigration enforcement operations in the affected California areas without being bound by that preliminary injunction, while leaving unresolved the larger dispute over whether particular stops or arrests violated the Fourth Amendment.
Original article
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