LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration will appeal a Los Angeles federal judge’s orders limiting the ability of federal agents to detain people without reasonable suspicion beyond their race, ethnicity or occupation, the White House said on Sunday, July 13.

“No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy —that authority rests with Congress and the president,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told City News Service in an email Sunday.

“Enforcement operations require careful planning and execution; skills far beyond the purview or jurisdiction of any judge. We expect this gross overstep of judicial authority to be corrected on appeal,” Jackson added.

Friday’s 52-page ruling from U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong bars immigration agencies “from conducting detentive stops in this district unless the agent or officer has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.”

The order also bars agents from relying solely on factors such as race/ethnicity, speaking with an accent or being at locations such as bus stops, day laborer sites, car washes or agricultural sites as a basis for detaining people.

• Also See: Pasadena mayor praises federal ruling on immigration raids, after bus stop arrests in city he leads

In a separate ruling, Frimpong ordered immigration agencies to ensure detainees are provided with access to attorneys or legal representatives seven days a week, and access to confidential telephone calls with attorneys at no charge to the detainees — and that those calls “shall not be screened, recorded or otherwise monitored.”

White House border czar Tom Homan criticized the order Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Look, we’re going to litigate that order, because I think the order’s wrong. I mean, she’s (Frimpong) assuming that the officers don’t have reasonable suspicion. They don’t need probable cause to briefly detain and question somebody. They just need reasonable suspicion. And that’s based on many articulable facts.

“So, unless she’s in the officer’s mind, I don’t know if she would make that decision that, well, they’re not using reasonable suspicion. How does she know that? I mean, every officer has to bring articulable facts to raise reasonable suspicion, and then they can briefly detain,” Homan said.

“… Physical description can’t be the sole factor to give you reasonable suspicion,” he added. ” … Appearance can be just one. For instance, if someone has an MS-13 tattoo on their face, that may be one factor to add to other factors to raise reasonable suspicion. … But I can tell you this, that every ICE officer goes through Fourth Amendment training every six months, and reminded what their authorities are for arrest, detention, and questioning. So, the officers are very well-trained.”

Appearing on the same program, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, disputed Homan’s claims.

“It is appearance. It’s accents. It’s occupation, again, construction workers, farmworkers, you name it. The evidence is out there,” Padilla said.

• Also See: Leaders demand to see detainees after ICE raid in Pasadena

After Friday’s ruling, U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles Bill Essayli insisted that enforcement agencies have adhered to the law.

“We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and maintain that our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification,” Essayli said. “Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the U.S. Constitution.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a defiant response on its social media pages, writing, “A district judge is undermining the will of the American people. America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. LAW AND ORDER WILL PREVAIL!”

The lawsuit was filed July 2 in Los Angeles federal court by Public Counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys representing Southern California residents, workers and advocacy groups on behalf of people who allege they were unlawfully stopped or detained by federal agents targeting locations where immigrant workers are traditionally hired. It accused immigration officials of carrying out “roving patrols” and detaining people without warrants and regardless of whether they have actual proof they are in the country legally.

It further alleged that federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, engaged in unconstitutional and unlawful immigration enforcement raids by targeting Angelenos based on their perceived race and ethnicity and denying detainees constitutionally mandated due process.

• Also See: First came the immigration agents, then came the text. Pomona family’s day turns into a nightmare

The lawsuit accused the DHS of operating a program of “abducting and disappearing” community members using unlawful arrest tactics, then confining detainees in illegal conditions while denying access to attorneys.

The two main plaintiffs in the case said they were arrested by armed, masked agents merely for sitting at a bus stop.

“I believe these events are unprecedented in American history,” plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Rosenbaum of the Public Counsel law firm told the court, referring to the events of the past month when immigration raids across the region have prompted demonstrations and panic in Latino communities.

In a statement following Friday’s ruling, Rosenbaum called the decision “historic.”

“The court ruled clearly that DHS’s unlawful and abusive practice of denying attorney access to car wash workers, nannies, and other hardworking community members rounded up and detained in cruel and coercive conditions —without beds, meals, or even minimal hygiene — must end immediately,” he said. “The question now for our federal government is whether it is prepared to conduct its operations under the rule of law. To date, the answer has been no.”

During a court hearing Thursday, Sean Skedzielewski, a government attorney, denied allegations that agents were conducting illegal detentions of immigrants, insisting that DHS enforcement activities are based on proper evidence and the “totality of the circumstances.”

But Frimpong, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, appeared critical of the government’s stance, saying attorneys were offering only generalities without providing adequate legal arguments to back their position.

In his argument, Tajsar told the court most immigration stops do not happen to white people.

“It’s happening with people who appear Latino,” he said, adding the government’s roving immigration agents “are stopping people and asking questions later.”

Asked by the judge why it was necessary for agents to wear masks that hide their identities, Skedzielewski responded that government agents were trying to avoid being “doxed” if their identities were discovered.

Federal officials also repeated their calls for undocumented immigrants to self-deport using the CBP Home app, and to learn more about legal immigration options at cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced a plan Friday to provide financial assistance to people who have been affected by the sweeping immigration raids. The aid, which will not come directly from taxpayers but from immigrants rights groups such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, will be distributed using cash cards containing about $200, and should be available in about a week.

“You have people who don’t want to leave their homes, who are not going to work, and they are in need of cash,” Bass said during a Friday news conference.

Criteria for receiving the aid was not immediately clear.

Bass also announced that she signed an executive directive that, among other things, calls for records from the Trump administration on all ICE operations since they started in June, and directs all city departments to ensure they are in compliance with Los Angeles’ “sanctuary city ordinance,” which prohibits the use of city resources and personnel in federal immigration enforcement.