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Published : 31 Jan 2026, 11:54 PM
A Minnesota federal judge on Saturday declined to order a halt to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis, in a lawsuit by state officials accusing federal agents of widespread civil rights abuses.
US District Judge Kate Menendez in Minneapolis said the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office made a strong showing that immigration agents' tactics, including shootings and evidence of racial profiling, were having "profound and even heartbreaking consequences on the State of Minnesota, the Twin Cities, and Minnesotans."
However, the judge noted that a federal appeals court recently overturned a much narrower injunction curtailing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics in Minnesota.
"If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would," wrote Menendez, an appointee of former Democratic President Joe Biden.
The lawsuit sought to block or rein in a US Department of Homeland Security operation that sent thousands of immigration agents to Minneapolis-St. Paul, sparking weeks of protests and leading to the killings of two US citizens by federal agents.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X, called the ruling a "HUGE" win for the Justice Department. "Neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota," she said.
STATE ALLEGES RACIAL PROFILING, UNLAWFUL DETENTION
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison accused federal agents of racially profiling citizens, unlawfully detaining lawful residents for hours and stoking fear with heavy-handed tactics. Ellison, an elected Democrat, also accused the Trump administration of targeting Minnesota out of animus for its Democratic political leanings.
The Trump administration said the operation was aimed at enforcing federal immigration laws pursuant to the Republican president’s policies. Some administration officials said the surge would end if Minnesota acquiesced to certain demands, including ending legal protections for people living in the US without legal authorisation.
Tensions in Minneapolis-St Paul ramped up after the Jan 7 killing of Renee Good, who was shot in her car by a federal immigration agent in an incident captured in widely circulated bystander videos. The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent on January 24 further inflamed tensions, as bystander videos showed he had been disarmed.
The Trump administration defended the agents, saying they had acted in self-defense. But videos of the events cast doubt on those narratives and fuelled calls for the agents to be criminally prosecuted. Federal authorities refused to cooperate with local law enforcement investigations of the killings.
Trump and Minnesota's Democratic Governor Tim Walz said they spoke on Monday and had a productive conversation about de-escalating tensions.
Trump has deployed federal law enforcement officers into several cities and states largely governed by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon. He said his actions were necessary to enforce immigration laws and control crime, but Democrats accused Trump of abusing his powers as the top federal law enforcer.
