Trump Administration Turns To US Supreme Court To Lift Ban On SoCal Immigration Enforcement

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, August 8, 2025…

• The Trump administration is asking the US Supreme Court to lift a temporary restraining order that restricts indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests across much of Southern California.
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has launched a new interfaith ministry, to accompany refugees and asylum seekers at immigration court.
• San Luis Obispo County Supervisors voted this week to accept more than $300,000 in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That’s despite criticism of the agency’s immigration enforcement policies.
• At Google’s San Francisco offices Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a new joint effort with four top tech giants to better prepare California’s students for the future of work. 
• The 29th annual Tahoe Summit brought together lawmakers, tribal leaders, and environmentalists to discuss the future of the basin.

Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court To Lift Temporary Ban On Roving Immigration Stops 

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to lift a temporary restraining order that blocked “roving” immigration stops in Los Angeles and eight other California counties. In an emergency appeal, the federal government argued the order poses a significant barrier to enforcing federal immigration laws. The request for a stay is filed on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, so oral arguments are not likely.

An attorney for the plaintiffs in the initial suit — a coalition of civil rights, immigrant rights, and local government agencies — said they look forward to arguing the case before the high court. “The federal government has now gone running to the Supreme Court asking it to undo a narrow court order—applicable in only one judicial district—that merely compels them to follow the Constitution.” said Mohammad Tajsar, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued the temporary restraining order last month in the Central District of California, citing “a mountain of evidence” that the government’s aggressive enforcement tactics likely violated people’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Trump’s Solicitor General, D. John Sauer argued in the filing with the high court that Frimpong’s order puts a “straitjacket” on agents and “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws … by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop of suspected illegal aliens.”  Frimpong ruled federal immigration authorities could not rely on four factors for reasonable suspicion: race, ethnicity, language, and location or employment; either solely or in combination.

San Diego Roman Catholic Diocese Launches Ministry To Support Refugees In Court

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has launched a new interfaith ministry to accompany refugees and asylum seekers at immigration court.

The program is in response to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactic of arresting refugees and asylum seekers after their immigration hearings in order to quickly deport them.

The ministry is called “Faithful Accompaniment in Trust & Hope,” or FAITH. It’s a follow-up to the effort that was started six weeks ago when Bishop Michael Pham and other religious leaders accompanied refugees to their immigration hearings. Though there were ICE agents present, no one was detained that day.

SLO County Accepts $316K Homeland Security Grant Amid Public Pushback

San Luis Obispo County Supervisors voted this week to accept more than $300,000 in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, despite criticism of the agency’s immigration enforcement policies.

The funding will be used to upgrade emergency response and public safety equipment across three county departments: the Sheriff-Coroner’s Office, County Fire, and the Clerk-Recorder’s Office.

The vote drew pushback during public comment, with several residents voicing concerns about accepting money from a department that oversees ICE. Speakers referenced previous ICE operations on the Central Coast, as well as cases in which US citizens were mistakenly detained.

California Teams With Tech Companies To Prepare Students for AI Era

At Google’s San Francisco offices Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a joint effort with four top tech companies to better prepare California’s students for the future of work.

At a time when hundreds of thousands of tech workers are losing their jobs to layoffs, California is teaming up with Microsoft, Google, IBM and Adobe to help students and teachers get up to speed on generative AI. “The world in many ways is now competing against us, and we’ve got to step up our game,” Newsom said.

The agreements will bring the companies’ free AI training — along with software, certification programs and internship opportunities — into California’s high schools, community colleges and California State University campuses.

Tahoe Summit Tackles Climate Resilience And Collaborative Conservation

The 29th annual Tahoe Summit brought together lawmakers, tribal leaders, and environmental advocates this week to discuss the future of the Lake Tahoe Basin.