Civil Rights

Judge Eric Tostrud found "compelling and troubling" evidence that ICE/HSI in Minnesota engaged in racial profiling, parsing specific stop-and-arrest scenarios and internal guidance and distinguishing where policies versus individual officer conduct appear unconstitutional, but he declined to issue an injunction citing the future-harm standard and the government's claim it was winding down certain operations. At the same time, appeals courts continue to uphold the broad no-bond detention authority under the 1996 statute, creating a structural gap in which statutory detention power remains intact even as district judges identify on-the-ground constitutional problems, leaving uneven protections for residents.

A Woodbury realtor says he followed and filmed ICE agents in public — including a grocery-store parking lot and his cul-de-sac — and was detained by ICE for more than nine hours, alleging agents pulled him from his car, put him in a headlock, threw him to the ground and left him with a black eye and facial abrasions though he was never formally arrested or charged. ICE declined to explain the legal basis for the detention, First Amendment experts say recording law enforcement in public is protected, and the account comes amid DHS's Operation Metro Surge — a deployment of roughly 2,000 ICE officers (with plans for 1,000 more) that has sparked lawsuits, protests and business community concerns in the Twin Cities.