The Home Depot parking lot on Florin Road is not usually where federal court orders get tested, yet that is exactly what civil rights lawyers say happened last summer in South Sacramento.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the United Farm Workers told a federal judge Thursday that a Border Patrol sweep at a south Sacramento Home Depot in July violated an existing court order that was meant to rein in warrantless interior arrests. The groups asked the Fresno-based judge to halt similar operations going forward and to require retraining and stricter documentation for the agents involved. The judge heard arguments and said she would take the request under submission.
In court filings and during the hearing, attorneys for the ACLU and UFW argued that the July 17 operation at the Florin Road Home Depot relied on race and type of work, used boilerplate arrest reports that mischaracterized detainees, and failed to spell out individualized reasons for stopping people, according to The Sacramento Bee. Government lawyers countered that video showed people running and that the agency’s arrest forms met legal standards, according to the filings and arguments. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston pressed the government about those descriptions, noting that video appeared to show some agents not in uniform, and said she would rule after reviewing briefs and sworn declarations.
What Happened At The Florin Road Home Depot
On July 17, masked Border Patrol agents swept through the Florin Road Home Depot parking lot and detained multiple people. Video from the scene shows a volunteer who was filming the operation being maced and then taken into custody, according to CapRadio. The Department of Homeland Security later said at least 11 people were arrested during the sweep and highlighted one arrestee as a man with a lengthy criminal record, while advocates say day laborers and bystanders were caught up as well. Video and social media posts from the Border Patrol’s El Centro sector quickly sparked protests and public criticism from local officials.
Detainees' Declarations Contradict Border Patrol Reports
Several people detained in the operation submitted sworn declarations in the Fresno case, saying they were stopped with no individualized suspicion and that official paperwork reduced complicated encounters to canned summaries. Selvin Osbeli Mejia Diaz says he was arrested even though he was not near the Home Depot and was never asked about his immigration status. Filiberto de Jesus Rivera-Molina says agents grabbed and pushed him before he was later deported to Guatemala. Isael Lopez Mazariegos describes being taken into custody without understanding the reason, according to The Sacramento Bee. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say these accounts undermine Border Patrol’s claim that arrests were based on specific concerns about flight risk or criminal behavior.
Legal Context And What's At Stake
The fight centers on a preliminary injunction that Judge Thurston issued on April 29, 2025. That order limits Border Patrol’s authority to conduct detentive stops and warrantless arrests away from the border in the Eastern District of California and requires agents to document the facts and circumstances of any interior arrest. The terms are laid out in the court order posted on Justia and described in an ACLU press release. Plaintiffs now want the court to enforce that injunction in this case, including ordering retraining and barring officers who did not follow the rules from future operations, while the government maintains that its agents acted within the law. Judge Thurston did not issue a ruling at the hearing and will decide after weighing the written submissions.
The case has turned into a flashpoint in Sacramento and across the Central Valley over how and where federal immigration enforcement should occur. Advocates warn that aggressive interior sweeps make everyday life more precarious for workers and day laborers who gather in places like parking lots to find jobs. Whatever Judge Thurston decides will likely shape how Border Patrol operates far beyond one Home Depot on Florin Road.
