The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Monday to allow a surge of immigration agents in Minnesota to continue despite a lawsuit filed by state and local officials claiming that the deployment is unconstitutional.
Lawyers for the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul say in the suit that the operation violates Minnesota’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. It says that the federal government’s “actions appear designed to provoke community outrage, sow fear and inflict emotional distress, and they are interfering with the ability of state and local officials to protect and care for their residents.”
But the Trump administration said on Monday that the state and local governments’ position was an “absurdity” that “would render the supremacy of federal law an afterthought to local preferences.” An injunction blocking the operation “would constitute an unprecedented act of judicial overreach,” they added.
The plaintiffs filed the suit last week. Judge Kate M. Menendez made no rulings in a hearing on Wednesday; the state had pressed her to immediately block the deployment of some 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota.
The ICE campaign, which the Trump administration has named Operation Metro Surge, has led to more than 3,000 arrests, repeated clashes with protesters and two shootings. The administration has described the effort as necessary to crack down on illegal immigration and to root out fraud in state social service programs.
Judge Menendez, who was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said during the hearing last week that the Trump administration needed time to reply to the lawsuit. She said another hearing on the issue was possible, perhaps as soon as this Friday, though one has not been scheduled yet.
Other Democratic-led states targeted in immigration enforcement campaigns have challenged President Trump’s use of the military in such efforts, but questioning the executive branch’s authority to deploy law enforcement officers appears to be a new strategy. Mr. Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to send federal troops to Minnesota, but he has not yet done so.
Lawyers for the administration said in their written filing on Monday that “Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement.”
“The 10th Amendment does not afford an ejectment action for states who are dissatisfied with the federal government’s enforcement of federal law,” the administration’s response said.
On the same day that Minnesota filed its lawsuit, Illinois sued the Trump administration and asked a judge to halt civil immigration enforcement in the state without “express congressional authorization.” No ruling has been entered in that case.
The Minnesota lawsuit is playing out against the backdrop of large protests, highly visible patrols by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and mounting hostility between Republicans in the federal government and the top Democrats in Minnesota.
An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, on a Minneapolis street on Jan. 7, an encounter that federal and local officials have described in sharply contrasting terms. Last week, another agent shot and injured a man who officials said was in the country illegally. They said that the man had assaulted an agent with a shovel or a broom while resisting arrest in Minneapolis.
On Friday, the Justice Department was said to have opened a criminal investigation into whether Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis had conspired to impede federal agents. Mr. Walz and Mr. Frey, both Democrats, described the inquiry as a weaponization of law enforcement power.
Judge Menendez, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, is also hearing a separate lawsuit that challenges the actions of immigration agents toward protesters. She entered a preliminary injunction in that case on Friday, imposing restrictions on how agents interact with demonstrators. Lawyers for the Trump administration said on Monday that they would appeal that injunction.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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