Judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota as a lawsuit proceeds

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.

Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

It argues that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. State and local officials sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”

The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.

The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.”

State and local officials argued that the surge amounts to retaliation after the federal government's initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed. They also maintain that the surge has amounted to an unconstitutional drain on state and local resources, noting that schools and businesses have been shuttered in the wake of what local officials say are aggressive, poorly trained and armed federal officers.

“Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.

The judge also said she was influenced by the government’s victory last week at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeals court set aside her decision putting limits on the use of force by immigration officers against peaceful Minnesota protesters.

“If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would,” Menendez said.

Despite the denial of an injunction, Menendez said the lawsuit makes a strong showing that the surge is having a “profound and even heartbreaking” effect on the people of Minnesota, noting multiple shootings of state residents by federal agents.

“Additionally, there is evidence that ICE and CBP agents have engaged in racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other harmful actions,” she wrote.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi lauded the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on the social platform X.

At an unrelated news conference Saturday in Miami, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency is “grateful when a court sees that the right thing has been done,” and said DHS will try to work with local law enforcement and state leadership on its effort.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement that he was disappointed.

“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. “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.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the case is still in its infancy and his office will push forward with the lawsuit.

“We know that these 3,000 immigration agents are here to intimidate Minnesota and bend the state to the federal government’s will,” Ellison said in a statement. “That is unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment and the principle of equal sovereignty. We’re not letting up in defending our state’s constitutional powers.”

The state, particularly Minneapolis, has been on edge after federal officers fatally shot two people in the city: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24. Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the federal action in Minnesota and across the country.

On Saturday in a Minneapolis park, demonstrators voiced a mix of concern and resignation over the ruling.

“It’s not surprising, but it’s awful,” said Tucker Johnson, a 27-year-old middle school teacher, adding that he has seen a significant drop in attendance since the operation began. “Our students can’t get an education, because they and their families are too scared to go to school. That’s wrong, no matter what the court says.”

Carrie Schmitt-Jost, a 54-year-old nurse, agreed.

“Shame on the judge,” she said. “But it won’t stop us.”

Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed.

ople gather for a solidarity bike ride for Alex Pretti and Renee Good on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

ople gather for a solidarity bike ride for Alex Pretti and Renee Good on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Flowers and photos are left at a memorial site for Renee Good on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A photo of Renee Good is displayed in front of a home on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A 5-year-old boy and his father must be released by Tuesday from the Texas center where they’ve been held after being detained by immigration officers in Minnesota, a federal judge ordered Saturday in a ruling that harshly criticized President Donald Trump's administration’s approach to enforcement.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos, with a bunny hat and Spiderman backpack being surrounded by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20, sparked even more outcry about the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. It also led to a protest at the Texas family detention center and a visit by two Texas Democratic members of Congress.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who sits in San Antonio and was appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling that “the case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Biery had previously ruled that the boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, could not be removed from the U.S., at least for now.

In his order Saturday, Biery said: “apparent also is the government's ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence,” suggesting the Trump administration's actions echo those that author and future President Thomas Jefferson enumerated as grievances against England.

Biery also included in his ruling a photo of Liam Conejo Ramos and references to two lines in the Bible: “Jesus said, ’Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” and “Jesus wept.”

He's not the only federal judge who has been tough on ICE recently. A Minnesota-based judge with a conservative pedigree accused the agency as a serial violator of court orders.

Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, has said there’s a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day. It’s that figure which the judge seemed to describe as a “quota.”

Spokespersons from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers in Minnesota used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government says Arias entered the U.S. illegally in December 2024. The family's lawyer says he has a pending asylum claim that allows him to remain in the country.

During the Jan. 28 visit with Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett, the boy slept in the arms of his father, who said Liam was frequently tired and not eating well at the detention facility that houses about 1,100 people, according to Castro.

Detained families report poor conditions like worms in food, fighting for clean water and poor medical care at the detention center since its reopening last year. In December, a report filed by ICE acknowledged they held about 400 children longer than the recommended limit of 20 days.

Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this article.

A canister of pepper spray launched by Texas troopers flies towards protesters outside the South Texas Family Residential Center detention facility where Liam Ramos and his father are being detained in Dilley, Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

An order to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from detention, which included a picture of the boy and Bible verse references under the signature of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer)

An order to release 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from detention, which included a picture of the boy and Bible verse references under the signature of U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, is photographed Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Sydney Schaefer)