() A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that lifts restrictions on how federal immigration enforcement agencies detain immigrants they suspect are in the U.S. illegally could have a bearing on how similar operations are conducted in other cities, including Chicago and Boston.

In a 6-3 decision Monday, justices granted a request to pause a previous temporary restraining order on federal officers and agents stopping people without reasonable suspicion.

The Supreme Court ruling came after a U.S. District Court judge in California ruled that federal immigration officers could not base who they stopped on four factors, including race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or accented English, their presence at places like carwashes or other locations where day laborers gather or the fact that they worked at certain jobs.

The White House asked for an emergency intervention, calling the lower court’s ruling a “straitjacket” on federal immigration enforcement.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called it “a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law” on X Monday.

“@DHSgov law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor,” McLaughlin wrote.

Although the ruling addressed immigration enforcement efforts specifically in Southern California, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned Monday that other U.S. cities targeted by federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement should beware.

“I want the entire nation to hear me when I say this isn’t just an attack on the people of Los Angeles,” Bass said in a prepared statement. “This is an attack on every person in every city in this country. Today’s ruling is not only dangerous it’s un-American and threatens the fabric of personal freedom in the United States of America.”

The Supreme Court ruling comes as the Department of Homeland Security has announced that immigration enforcement agencies like ICE will ramp up operations in Chicago and Boston.

DHS officials on Monday announced “Operation Midway Blitz”, which is expected to surge the number of federal immigration officers working on targeted operations in Chicago in the coming days.

How immigration ruling could affect ICE operations in other cities

Sophia Genovese, a clinical teaching fellow and supervising attorney at Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Legal Studies, agreed with Bass’ assessment that the ruling could have a nationwide effect.

Genovese, a Los Angeles native, told on Monday that Los Angeles has served as a blueprint for other large-scale enforcement operations expected to take place.  She said that with its ruling, the Supreme Court justices essentially gave DHS “carte blanche authority” to detain people based on their race.

While the previous federal court ruling determined that the four factors were not enough to detain someone, Monday’s ruling strips away those restrictions.  Genovese called the ruling “dangerous.” She said that now, immigrants who live in the United States legally or are green-card holders can be stopped based on their race alone.

She expects that a practice that some have characterized as racial profiling by ICE affects those in Los Angeles but also in other cities that may be targeted for larger-scale immigration enforcement by the Trump administration.

While the legal process surrounding the California federal court ruling remains unfinished, Genovese expects the Los Angeles case to mirror other legal challenges that could arise in states like Illinois, Massachusetts and other Democrat-led cities that Trump administration officials have threatened to go after.

Does ruling set precedent for more legal challenges over ICE arrests?

Genovese told that she expects warrantless arrests of migrants to be challenged. However, she expects ICE and other federal immigration enforcement agencies to feel empowered by the White House and the Supreme Court.

She says those possible impending legal challenges could further clog up a court system that is already inundated with immigration-related challenges.

“It’s really deeply troubling, this new pattern of the Supreme Court stepping in when lower courts issue injunctions attempting to put guardrails up for the Trump administration, striking down their unlawful action, only to have an emergency appeal sent to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court rubber stamps whatever the Trump administration wants to do,” Genovese said.

The Trump administration has accused elected officials in other states, such as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, of protecting migrant criminals. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused both officials of prioritizing undocumented migrants over Illinois residents.

In announcing new operations in Chicago and Boston, DHS officials accused the mayors of those cities of allowing migrant criminals to be released.

While DHS’s focus remains on cities with “sanctuary” policies in place, a California law professor told affiliate KTLA that Monday’s ruling will green-light immigration enforcement to continue as it has.

“At this point, it’s the Supreme Court saying that ICE agents can essentially continue doing what they were previously doing, which is that they can continue these raids where they are rounding up people and detaining them in order to determine their immigration status,” Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levinson said.