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.
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.
