Judge won't halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge says she won't halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.

Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

It argues that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. State and local officials sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope.

Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice called the lawsuit "legally frivolous."

The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution's 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government's powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.

The federal government argued that Operation Metro Surge is necessary to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts were hindered by state and local "sanctuary laws and policies."

State and local officials argued that the surge amounts to retaliation after the federal government's initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed. They also sat it amounted to an unconstitutional drain on state and local resources, noting that schools and businesses shuttered in the wake of what local officials say are aggressive, poorly trained and armed federal officers.

"Because there is evidence supporting both sides' arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side's competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction," the judge said in the ruling.

Judge has harsh words for federal agencies

Menendez also said she was influenced by the government's victory last week at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which set aside her decision limiting immigration officers' use of force against peaceful Minnesota protesters. "If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would," she said.

Despite the denial of an injunction, Menendez said the lawsuit makes a strong showing that the surge has a "profound and even heartbreaking" effect on the people of Minnesota, noting federal agents' shootings of state residents.

"Additionally, there is evidence that ICE and CBP agents have engaged in racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other harmful actions," she wrote.

On Friday, the Senate voted to fund most of the government through the end of September while carving out a temporary extension for Homeland Security funding, which would give Congress two weeks to debate new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country. The House is expected to take up the legislation Monday.

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Officials, protesters react to injunction decision

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi lauded the ruling on social media as "another HUGE" legal win for the Justice Department.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency is "grateful when a court sees that the right thing has been done" and DHS will try to work with local law enforcement and state leadership on its effort.

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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he was disappointed. "This decision doesn't change what people here have lived through — fear, disruption, and harm caused by a federal operation that never belonged in Minneapolis in the first place," he said. He called the operation "an invasion, and it needs to stop."

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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office will push forward with the lawsuit.

The state is on edge after federal officers fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis.

The state, particularly Minneapolis, is on edge after federal officers shot and killed two people in the city: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the federal action in Minnesota and across the country.

In a Minneapolis park Saturday, demonstrators voiced a mix of concern and resignation over the ruling.

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Boy, father ordered released

Also Saturday, a different judge ordered the U.S. to release a 5-year-old boy and his father by Tuesday from a Texas detention center where they were taken after being detained in a Minneapolis suburb.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos in a bunny hat surrounded by ICE officers sparked more outcry about the immigration crackdown in Minnesota. It also led to a protest at the family detention center and a visit by two Texas Democratic members of Congress.

That judge previously ruled the boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, originally from Ecuador, could not be removed from the U.S. for now.

Neighbors and school officials say federal immigration officers in Minnesota used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security disputed that description of events, saying the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in the family's driveway.

During the Jan. 28 visit with Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, his father said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility housing about 1,100 people, according to Castro.

Detained families reported poor conditions like worms in food, fighting for clean water and poor medical care at the detention center. In December, ICE acknowledged it held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.

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AP writer Ed White contributed to this report from Detroit.

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