A federal judge in Minneapolis on Monday appeared critical of the validity of a surge of 3,000 immigration agents in the state — as lawyers for Minnesota asked for a local ban on ICE after two protesters were killed.
Judge Katherine Menendez, a President Joe Biden appointee, said she would issue a ruling quickly after listening to roughly three hours of oral arguments during which she grilled lawyers for the feds about Operation Metro Surge, which was rolled out in the state Dec. 1.
Menendez peppered the lawyers for the federal government with questions about the effectiveness of the operation, why it required so many officers to carry it out and whether it was using the surge in agents to pressure Minnesota to fall in line with the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“So the goal of the surge is not to get the state and cities to change sanctuary policies?” Menendez asked Brantley Mayers, a lawyer representing the federal government.
Mayers responded that the feds weren’t trying to pressure the North Star State into changing its immigration and other policies but were simply enforcing the law.
Earlier in the hearing, a lawyer with the state, Lindsey Middlecamp, called US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over the weekend a “ransom note.”
Bondi’s letter had laid out three conditions the state needed to meet in order for the feds to withdraw immigration agents — including following sanctuary policies and handing over the state voter rolls and Medicare and Food and Nutrition Services program records.
The judge asked the lawyers for the federal government how many agents they would consider too many.
Mayers revealed there were roughly 2,000 ICE agents and 1,000 Border Patrol officers in the state.
“Would 10,000 ICE agents on the ground in the Twin Cities cross the line?” Menendez asked Mayers. “I mean, is there no limit to what the executive can do under the guise of enforcing immigration law?”
She also asked why there were only an extra 400 officers deployed in Illinois — nearly 10 times fewer than were sent to much smaller nearby Minnesota.
Mayers claimed the additional officers were needed to carry out complicated operations in parking lots.
The hearing occurred after Minnesota and the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, sued the Department of Homeland Security and sought an emergency ruling barring the Trump administration’s use of ICE to crack down on illegal immigration in the state.
This suit, and another one filed over the weekend, came after two protesters were fatally shot this month in Minneapolis in the span of fewer than three weeks.
Mom and protester Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer Jan. 7, and pistol-packing nurse demonstrator Alex Pretti was gunned down by a Border Patrol officer Saturday.
In the first lawsuit, the state accused the Justice Department of carrying out a “federal invasion” and asked that its law enforcement presence be reduced back to what it was before the Trump administration launched its surge.
Earlier during Monday’s hearing, Middlecamp accused President Trump of trying to sow chaos in Minnesota to force it to change legislation it doesn’t agree with.
“Minnesota should not have to withstand another month, another week or another single day of the unlawful and unchecked federal invasion by thousands of agents,” Middlecamp said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We cannot have a state and future if the people are not safe,” she said.
But Menendez pressed the state lawyer on whether a judge has the authority to intervene in federal law enforcement activity and how to determine if the feds had gone too far and violated Minnesota’s right to govern itself under the 10th Amendment preserving states’ rights.
“How do I decide when a law enforcement response crosses the line from a legitimate law enforcement response to a response that violates the 10th amendment?” Menendez pressed the state’s lawyers.
Another of the state’s lawyers, Brian Carter, responded, “The conduct we’re seeing is so much worse than anything we’ve ever seen, that the 10th Amendment must prevent it.”
“The situation on the streets is so dire,” Carter said. “Relief is appropriate now, and it should be granted now.”
Later Monday, Judge Eric Tostrud is set to hear arguments on a suit from over the weekend by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to ensure that DHS doesn’t alter or destroy evidence tied to Pretti’s killing.
On Sunday Tostrud – a Trump appointee – temporarily granted the request until he could hear arguments Monday afternoon.
Pretti – a 37-year-old ICU nurse at a veteran’s hospital – on Saturday morning was approached by several officers while he was filming their activities with his phone. The agents took him down and shot him. Pretti had a gun on him which he was licensed to carry.
Pretti’s death came just over two weeks after immigration agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed anti-ICE protester Good on Jan. 7 in her car.
With Post wires
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