rcanzlovar.com

Articles Recipes Blog Events Information Wordpress Projects Feeds Now

Kavanaugh Stops

We’ve all (those of us who don’t have our heads in the sand) heard of “Kavanaugh stops”. Like many new or novel words, we don’t always run to a dictionary. I at least try to make a rough guess and keep it as like a variable in math: don’t know what it means, but further context may make it clearer. If all else fails, we can refer to the Urban Dictionary for more recent linguistic addenda.

On first glance, it sounds like something police might do. Police have done all kinds of shady things in the last few decades. It’s not the same thing as “stop and frisk” where someone (often a person of color) might be stopped while they are walking around and subjected to a frisk and search. No probable cause beyond walking while black. They might find a personal-use amount of illicit substances, maybe a knife, a gun if they hit the jackpot. The subject of the search finds themselves suddenly dealing with legal consequences.

Brett Kavanaugh, famous beer fan who sits on the Supreme Court, is supposedly not thrilled that his name has been used to describe something that happens frequently these days. THe Supreme Court ruled in 1975 that it’s totally cool to ethnically profile people near the Mexican border. If you’re near the border, don’t speak English or have an accent, you can be required to show proof of citizenship. That’s been the law for 50 years.

In September, 2025, the Court ruled that one can be stopped for a few more reasons and more places. In the last week, the department of homeland security said that anyone should be able to prove their citizenship, including white people who might happen to be in the vicinity of people who are being targeted

A “Kavanaugh stop” refers to a controversial immigration enforcement tactic, solidified by a 2025 Supreme Court ruling, allowing federal agents to stop and question individuals in Los Angeles based on factors like perceived ethnicity, speaking English with an accent or Spanish, presence in specific locations (e.g., day labor sites), and working in certain industries (construction, landscaping), essentially permitting stops that might otherwise be seen as profiling.

Key Criteria for a Kavanaugh Stop:

• Apparent Ethnicity/Race: Agents can use physical appearance or ethnicity as a factor.
• Language: Speaking Spanish or having an accent.
• Location: Presence in areas where undocumented immigrants often gather, like Home Depot parking lots for day labor.
• Occupation: Working in jobs like landscaping, construction, or agriculture, which are common for undocumented workers.

Background & Context:

This practice stems from a Supreme Court order in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo (2025), where the Court stayed a lower court’s injunction, allowing these tactics to resume in Los Angeles. Justice Kavanaugh supported the stay, arguing the government had a strong chance of winning, and noted the high percentage of unauthorized immigrants in the LA area made such enforcement necessary, writes Supreme Court historical site. Critics, including Justice Sotomayor, argue these criteria target Latino communities and violate the Fourth Amendment by failing to establish individualized reasonable suspicion, as noted on SCOTUSblog.

I don’t personally have much to fear from these things: I’m white, speak english as my first language, only have an accent if i’m telling a joke, and don’t usually hang around parking lots looking for work. I do, however, live in the Hispanic neighborhood of my town. I might someday find myself in proximity of people under investigation, who knows?

Around the time I learned about the expanded identity requirements, I made the precaution of taking my passport (the possession of which marks me as one of the people who are privileged enough to get one) and attaching it to my backpack. When I got my passport in early 2024, I’d been without for a few years because I don’t actually travel out of the country very often. Most likely I go to Windsor, Ontario when I visit the Detroit area.

Passports now come in two form factors: the folio that most of us are familiar with and a convenience one that is about the same size as a drivers license. This is the one that I carry around because if it comes down to it, i’d rather have it than not if I am exercising my first amendment rights somewhere.