DOJ Asks Judge to Allow Minnesota Immigration Operations to Continue

The Department of Justice asked a federal judge in Minnesota to allow the Trump administration’s immigration operations to continue as tensions simmer over the tactics used by federal officers throughout the state.

The Jan. 19 filing was in response to a lawsuit filed last week by Minnesota and the Twin Cities, which sought to stop the deployment of immigration agents, saying the intervention violated the state’s constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez declined to issue an immediate restraining order expelling some 3,000 federal agents from Minnesota.

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Menendez, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2021, is also overseeing a lawsuit filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists who said federal agents violated their constitutional rights and used excessive force against demonstrators.

In that case Menendez issued a ruling barring agents from using tactics such as pepper spray and arrest against peaceful protesters in Minneapolis. The Justice Department said on Jan. 18 that it would appeal the injunction.

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