Federal judge dismisses Minnesota's attempt to block Trump ICE surge

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: A federal judge on Saturday declined to halt the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, dealing a setback to state and city officials who argue the deployment unlawfully intrudes on state authority.

US District Judge Katherine Menendez ruled that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are unlikely to succeed on their constitutional claims as the lawsuit proceeds.

The decision allows the administration’s immigration surge to continue while the case moves forward.

Menendez, a Biden appointee, issued the ruling in a 30-page order denying the state’s request for emergency relief.

Court says constitutional claims face steep hurdles

Minnesota’s lawsuit centers on the 10th Amendment and the Supreme Court’s anti-commandeering doctrine, which bars the federal government from compelling states to carry out federal regulatory programs.

Menendez said, however, that the plaintiffs were asking the court to push legal precedent beyond its established limits.

“Plaintiffs ask the Court to extend existing precedent to a new context where its application is less direct-namely, to an unprecedented deployment of armed federal immigration officers to aggressively enforce immigration statutes,” she wrote.

“None of the cases on which they rely have even come close,” the judge added.

While the court did not dismiss the lawsuit, Menendez concluded that the legal questions raised were not sufficiently settled to justify stopping the operation at this early stage. 

Menendez noted that Minnesota’s claims were not frivolous. At one point in her ruling, she suggested that federal immigration officers may have engaged in racial profiling and used excessive force during the operation. 

Still, she said the court must balance the potential harms on both sides when considering whether to issue a preliminary injunction.

Menendez wrote that blocking the entire operation would significantly interfere with the federal government’s immigration agenda.

She also pointed to a recent appeals court decision that paused a separate injunction she had issued earlier this week restricting ICE tactics during protests.

“If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here- halting the entire operation certainly would,” she wrote. 

Immigration surge unfolds amid rising tensions

Minnesota has emerged as a central battleground in President Trump’s immigration enforcement surge, known as Operation Metro Surge, which has targeted several Democratic-led states and cities with an expanded federal immigration presence.

Under “Operation Metro Surge”, federal officials say roughly 3,000 personnel from ICE and Customs and Border Protection have been deployed across the state to carry out arrests and enforcement actions. 

The operation was first announced in December 2025, but scrutiny intensified after the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a federal immigration officer during a confrontation in Minneapolis, one of multiple shootings linked to a surge that sparked widespread protest and legal challenges.

Ellison filed the lawsuit alongside Minneapolis and St. Paul before Pretti’s death. Menendez heard arguments in the case on Monday as officials pressed claims that the federal deployment infringes on state authority and disrupts local governance.

The plaintiffs argue that the federal deployment pressures local governments to abandon sanctuary policies and forces state and city officials to divert law enforcement resources toward federal priorities, complicating public safety and undermining community trust.

Trump administration celebrates decision

Trump administration officials quickly hailed the ruling as a legal victory.

“Another huge win, a Biden-appointed district judge denied Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s attempt to keep ICE out of Minnesota,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote Saturday on X.

“Neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota,” she added.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey expressed disappointment and said the lawsuit would continue.

“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.

“This operation has not brought public safety. It’s brought the opposite and has detracted from the order we need for a working city. It’s an invasion, and it needs to stop.”