A federal judge on Saturday refused to immediately halt Operation Metro Surge, allowing widespread federal immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota to continue while broader legal challenges play out.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez denied a request for a temporary restraining order from Minnesota authorities, despite acknowledging what she described as “serious and heartbreaking” consequences for the Minnesota community.
But, she said, “that’s not the only harm to consider.”
“The Eighth Circuit has recently reiterated that entry or injunctions that prohibit the federal government from enforcing federal law cause significant harm to the government,” the justices wrote.
Minnesota officials argued that the operation violates the Tenth Amendment by illegally forcing states to change or abandon their so-called sanctuary policies and cooperate more fully with federal immigration authorities. Menendez said these arguments are not strong enough to justify blocking the operation, at least at this stage.
“The inferences drawn regarding the purported coercive purpose of Operation Metro Surge are not as one-sided as plaintiffs suggest,” she wrote, rejecting the state’s claims that the operation was conducted in a “brazen and lawless manner” to force changes in state and local law.
The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
political payoff
The Trump administration has sent 3,000 federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities since December, arresting more than 3,000 illegal immigrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
American citizens Renee Good, 37, and Alex Preti, 37, were shot and killed by federal immigration authorities in separate confrontations this month. The killing sparked daily protests in the Twin Cities and sparked nationwide condemnation.
Following Preeti’s death last week and before authorities began investigating the incident, the Trump administration sent mixed signals after initially calling the 37-year-old ICU nurse a “domestic terrorist” and vowing to redouble its efforts.
And on Thursday, President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said the administration would “scale back” operations in the state. President Donald Trump also spoke by phone with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz this week.
But on Friday, federal authorities arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon in connection with a protest he covered at St. Paul’s Church earlier this month. Lemon has vowed to fight the charges.
President Trump called Walz a “corrupt” on Saturday’s Truth Social and called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who was attacked at City Hall this week, a “con artist.”
It is also unclear whether tensions on the ground, which have changed daily life for some Twin Cities residents since the operation began, have eased.
In his sentencing Saturday, Menendez acknowledged the toll the operation took on Minnesotans. She writes that there is evidence that federal immigration agents have engaged in racial profiling, excessive use of force and other harmful conduct, which the government does not dispute in its filing.
“Defendants do nothing to dispute the negative impacts Plaintiffs have described in nearly every area of daily life,” Menendez wrote, citing increased police overtime costs, declining school attendance, delayed emergency response and severe hardship for small businesses.
“It would be difficult to overstate the impact this operation is having on Minnesotans,” she added.
