ICYMI: Federal Judge Rejects Minnesota Request to Halt ICE Operation; Federal Judge Denies Minnesota Motion to End Immigration Surge

Federal judge rejects Minnesota request to halt ICE operation:

A federal judge has denied Minnesota’s request to immediately halt US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Operation Metro Surge.

Saturday’s ruling said the state and two cities failed to meet the high legal bar required to block a federal law enforcement operation at this stage of the case.

US District Judge Katherine Menendez signed the order and said the plaintiffs “have not met their burden” for the “extraordinary remedy” of a preliminary injunction.

The blue state, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and federal immigration officials in an effort to block the ICE-led enforcement operation.

The plaintiffs asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the federal operation while the case proceeds.

But Menendez denied that request, ruling the plaintiffs failed to meet the high legal standard required for such extraordinary relief.

The city released a statement from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on social media following the decision.

“Of course, we’re 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 wrote. --->READ MORE HERE

UPI

Federal judge denies Minnesota motion to end immigration surge:

Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul lost their bid to have a federal court order the Department of Homeland Security to end its immigration enforcement effort in the state.

U.S. District Court of Minnesota Judge Katherine Menendez on Saturday denied a motion to enjoin the federal government from continuing its immigration law enforcement surge in the Twin Cities.

“Even if the likelihood of success on the merits and the balance of harms each weighed more clearly in favor of plaintiffs, the court would still likely be unable to grant the relief requested: An injunction suspending Operation Metro Surge,” Menendez wrote in her 30-page ruling.

She cited a recent federal appellate court ruling that affirmed the federal government has the right to enforce federal laws over the objections of others.

“The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated a much more circumscribed injunction, which limited one aspect of the ongoing operation, namely the way immigration officers interacted with protesters and observers,” Menedez said.

“The injunction in that case was not only much narrower than the one proposed here, but it was based on more settled precedent than that which underlies the claims now before the court,” she explained.

“Nonetheless, the court of appeals determined that the injunction would cause irreparable harm to the government because it would hamper their efforts to enforce federal law,” Menendez continued.

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

Menendez said her ruling does not address the merits of the case filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on behalf of the state and two cities, which are named as the lawsuit’s three plaintiffs.

Those claims remain to be argued and largely focus on Ellison’s claim that the federal government is undertaking an illegal operation that is intended to force state and local officials to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Menendez said Ellison has not proven his claim, which largely relies on a 2013 ruling by the Supreme Court in a case brought by Shelby County, Ala., officials who challenged the 1965 Voting Rights Act. --->READ MORE HERE

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