California leader hails ruling blocking Trump's immigration crackdown

California's Democratic governor has praised a US court ruling that put a temporary hold on President Donald Trump's attempts to crack down on irregular immigrants in the state.

A judge in the western state, which has seen waves of large-scale immigration raids by federal agents on workplaces and public spaces, on Friday ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stop arrests of immigrants there without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

Officers cannot indiscriminately detain people on the basis of their ethnicity, language or profession, according to the ruling.

"Justice prevailed today — the court's decision puts a temporary stop to federal immigration officials violating people's rights and racial profiling," said California Governor Gavin Newsom in a statement.

He slammed the Trump administration for a hardline approach to immigration that is build on "chaos, cruelty and fear."

US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ordered the department to develop guidelines for officers to determine reasonable suspicion beyond a person's "apparent race or ethnicity," the language they speak or their accent, their occupation or location.

In a second ruling, the court ordered that detainees be granted access to a lawyer.

The judge's orders apply only to Los Angeles and other areas of southern California.

The case was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of several individuals who were allegedly arrested without proper cause.

One of the plaintiffs worked at a car wash, where he was visited three times by officers and ultimately arrested, despite being a US citizen, according to court documents. Stops also targeted farm workers, street vendors, workers at recycling centers and warehouses.

Mass deportations were a central promise during Trump's election campaign. He has specifically targeted Democrat-led cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, urging the federal agents to step up enforcement efforts in those places.

The White House blasted judge Frimpong's ruling and said that it would likely be overturned.

"No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy — that authority rests with Congress and the President," said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.

"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," she said in a statment quoted by US media.