A federal judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday said she will not stop US President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities. She rejected a request for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. According to Paul AP.
In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said that he was “disappointed” by the ruling.
The suit claimed that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections and sought an immediate order to halt the enforcement effort or restrict its scope. Attorneys for the US Department of Justice have described the lawsuit as “legally frivolous”.
The judge’s decision on the injunction centered on Minnesota officials’ claim that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which restricts federal authority from encroaching on state sovereignty. In her ruling, the judge placed significant weight on whether that argument was likely to prevail in the case overall.
The Federal government stated that the enforcement surge, known as Operation Metro Surge, is needed to remove criminal immigrants from the streets and said federal efforts have been obstructed by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies”.
State and local officials contend that the surge constitutes retaliation after the federal government’s earlier efforts to withhold funding to compel immigration cooperation did not succeed. They also argue that the surge has created an unconstitutional burden on state and local resources, pointing out that schools and businesses have been closed following what local officials describe as aggressive, poorly trained and armed federal officers.
What did the ruling say?
“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 stated in the ruling.
The judge said her decision was also shaped by the government’s recent win at the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which had overturned her earlier ruling that placed limits on how immigration officers could use force against peaceful protesters in Minnesota, the report noted.
“If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would,” Menendez added.
Minneapolis Mayor reacts
Frey said the ruling does not alter the experiences of residents, who have endured fear, disruption, and harm from a federal operation he said should never have taken place in Minneapolis.
He further said, “This operation has not brought public safety. It’s brought the opposite and has subtracted from the order we need for a working city. It’s an invasion, and it needs to stop.”
Meanwhile, US Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the ruling on
The state, and especially the city of Minneapolis, has been tense after federal officers fatally shot two individuals on Minneapolis streets: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. The incidents have prompted thousands to protest the federal action in Minnesota and across the country.
