LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court to free up its mass deportation efforts across Southern California on Thursday, seeking to lift a ban on “roving patrols” implemented after a lower court found such tactics likely violate the Fourth Amendment.

The restrictions, initially handed down in a July 11 order, bar masked and heavily armed agents from snatching people off the streets of Los Angeles and cities in seven other counties without first establishing reasonable suspicion that they are in the U.S. illegally.

Under the 4th Amendment, reasonable suspicion cannot be based solely on race, ethnicity, language, location or employment, either alone or in combination, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of Los Angeles found in her original decision.

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