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U.S. judge declines to halt Trump's Minnesota immigration agent surge
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X, called the ruling a "HUGE" win for the Justice Department.
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Reuters - Sat, 31, Jan 2026
- 14:22 EST
- 26
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators attend an "ICE Out" protest, after the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 30, 2026. / REUTERS/Tim Evans/File Photo
A Minnesota federal judge on Jan. 31 declined to order a halt to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis, in a lawsuit by state officials accusing federal agents of widespread civil rights abuses.
U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez in Minneapolis said the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office made a strong showing that immigration agents' tactics, including shootings and evidence of racial profiling, were having "profound and even heartbreaking consequences on the State of Minnesota, the Twin Cities, and Minnesotans."
However, the judge noted that a federal appeals court recently overturned a much narrower injunction curtailing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's interactions with protesters in Minnesota.
Also Read: As ICE presence intensifies, Minnesota adopts Chicago’s community defense playbook
"If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would," wrote Menendez, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden.
The lawsuit seeks to block or rein in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation that sent thousands of immigration agents to Minneapolis-St. Paul, sparking weeks of protests and leading to the killings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, whose city is also a plaintiff, said he was disappointed in the ruling but would continue to pursue the lawsuit. “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,” Frey said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X, called the ruling a "HUGE" win for the Justice Department. "Neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota," she said.
STATE ALLEGES RACIAL PROFILING, UNLAWFUL DETENTION
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison accused federal agents of racially profiling citizens, unlawfully detaining lawful residents for hours and stoking fear with heavy-handed tactics. Ellison, an elected Democrat, also accused the Trump administration of targeting Minnesota out of animus for its Democratic political leanings.
The Trump administration said the operation was aimed at enforcing federal immigration laws pursuant to the Republican president’s policies. Some administration officials said the surge would end if Minnesota acquiesced to certain demands, including ending legal protections for people living in the U.S. without legal authorization.
Tensions in Minneapolis-St. Paul ramped up after the January 7 killing of Renee Good, who was shot in her car by a federal immigration agent in an incident captured in widely circulated bystander videos. The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent on January 24 further inflamed tensions, as bystander videos showed he had been disarmed.
The Trump administration defended the agents, saying they had acted in self-defense. But videos of the events cast doubt on those narratives and fueled calls for the agents to be criminally prosecuted. Federal authorities refused to cooperate with local law enforcement investigations of the killings.
Trump and Minnesota's Democratic Governor Tim Walz said they spoke on Jan. 26 and had a productive conversation about de-escalating tensions.
Trump has deployed federal law enforcement officers into several cities and states largely governed by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon. He said his actions were necessary to enforce immigration laws and control crime, but Democrats accused Trump of abusing his powers as the top federal law enforcer.
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