The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to halt a court order restricting immigration stops that swept up at least two US citizens in Southern California. The emergency petition comes after an appeals court refused to lift a temporary restraining order barring authorities from stopping or arresting people based solely on factors like what language speak or where they work.

The move is the latest in a string of emergency appeals from the Trump administration to the high court, which has recently sided with the Republican president in a number of high-profile cases. The Justice Department argued that federal agents are allowed to consider those factors when ramping up enforcement of immigration laws in Los Angeles, an area it considers a "top enforcement priority." Trump officials asked the justices to immediately halt the order from US District Judge Maame E Frimpong in Los Angeles. She found a "mountain of evidence" that enforcement tactics were violating the US Constitution in what the plaintiffs called "roving patrols."

Her ruling came in a lawsuit filed by immigrant advocacy groups who accused President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump's Solicitor General D John Sauer asked the justices to immediately halt Frimpong's order, arguing that it puts a "straitjacket" on agents in an area with a large number of people in the US illegally.