Federal judge declines to halt Trump administration’s ICE surge in Minnesota

A federal judge on Saturday refused Minnesota’s request for emergency relief to stop the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, leaving the federal deployment in place as the underlying lawsuit moves forward.

The case centers on “Operation Metro Surge,” a federal effort that officials say brought roughly 3,000 immigration personnel—primarily from ICE and Border Patrol—into the Twin Cities region. Minnesota officials argued the operation exceeds lawful federal authority, infringes on state sovereignty, and has raised civil-rights concerns, including allegations of disproportionate targeting.

In denying the requested injunction, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote that the plaintiffs were asking the court to extend existing precedent to a “new context” involving an “unprecedented deployment” of armed federal immigration officers to aggressively enforce immigration statutes—and concluded the cases cited by Minnesota did not come close to supporting that step.

The lawsuit will continue, but for now the ruling means the surge can proceed while the court considers the broader constitutional claims.

READ MORE AT JUST THE NEWS