A federal judge in Minnesota on Saturday refused to order the shutdown in Minneapolis, in a lawsuit brought by state authorities who accuse federal agents of widespread civil rights abuses.
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District Judge Kate Menendez said the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office presented overwhelming evidence that immigration agents’ tactics — including shootings and racial profiling — were having “profound and even distressing consequences for the State of Minnesota, the Twin Cities and the people of Minnesota.”
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The Twin Cities concern the metropolitan region of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
However, the judge noted that a federal appeals court recently overturned a much narrower injunction that limited U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s tactics in Minnesota.
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“If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — stopping the entire operation — certainly would too,” wrote Menendez, appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden.
The court case sought to block or restrict a U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation that sent thousands of immigration agents to Minneapolis-St. Paul, triggering weeks of protests and resulting in the deaths of two US citizens by federal agents.
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US Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X, called the decision a “HUGE” victory for the Department of Justice. “Neither sanctuary city policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota,” he said.
The State alleges racial discrimination and illegal detention.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison accused federal agents of racially profiling citizens, illegally detaining residents for hours and spreading fear with repressive tactics. Ellison, an elected Democrat, also accused the Trump administration of targeting Minnesota out of animosity over its Democratic political leanings.
The Trump administration stated that the operation aimed to enforce federal immigration laws, in line with the Republican president’s policies.
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Some administration officials have said the surge in migration would end if Minnesota gave in to certain demands, including ending legal protections for people living in the U.S. without authorization.
The tension in Minneapolis-St. Paul escalated after the Jan. 7 murder of Renee Good, shot inside her car by a federal immigration agent. The Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent further inflamed tempers as witness video showed he had been disarmed.
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The Trump administration defended the agents, claiming they acted in self-defense. However, videos of the events cast doubt on this version and intensified calls for the agents to be criminally prosecuted. Federal authorities have refused to cooperate with local police investigations into the deaths.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston)
