Immigration & Civil Rights

Federal judges across the District of Minnesota have issued written orders blasting ICE’s Operation Metro Surge as unconstitutional and “Orwellian,” finding multiple Fourth Amendment violations — including warrantless battering‑ram home entries and workplace arrests — and ordering immediate releases, a 72‑hour limit on out‑of‑state transfers and expanded attorney access. Courts say ICE and DOJ have repeatedly flouted hundreds of these orders amid a surge of habeas petitions in the high hundreds to over 1,000, prompting contempt findings and threats of fines or criminal sanctions while the U.S. Attorney’s Office, depleted by resignations and overwhelmed by the caseload, struggles to comply as ICE at times re‑arrested released individuals and seeks to restart deportations.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim has issued a 66‑page opinion upholding his January preliminary injunction that barred DHS from arresting and detaining thousands of newly arrived refugees in Minnesota under Operation PARRIS, and ordered the release of dozens already taken into custody. Tunheim found that the refugees targeted have already undergone 'thorough' federal vetting, were lawfully admitted, and are living and working in Minnesota while awaiting green cards, making the warrantless sweeps unlawful. In unusually sharp language, he questioned the government’s motives, asking why it would 'terrorize refugees' who were brought here under a promise of safety and noting there is 'not a shred of evidence' they pose serious security risks. DHS had argued Minnesota is a focal point for immigration fraud and claimed it needed to rescreen roughly 5,600 recent arrivals, but the court rejected the administration’s new statutory interpretation as erroneous. The ruling immediately protects refugee families in Minneapolis–St. Paul from being grabbed at homes and jobs during the current immigration crackdown, and gives legal ammunition to Twin Cities advocates already fighting the broader Metro Surge in federal court.

Lawyers have filed over 1,000 habeas and related lawsuits in Minnesota federal court challenging detentions during Operation Metro Surge, a volume that eclipsed prior annual totals in a matter of weeks. Judges have granted relief in a very high percentage of ICE cases — ordering releases, new bond hearings and finding Fourth and Fifth Amendment problems — and the surge has forced the U.S. Attorney’s Office to reassign AUSAs and delay other enforcement work, with petitioners including asylum seekers, long‑time residents and applicants that undercut DHS’s "worst of the worst" characterization.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has imposed new limits on congressional visits to immigration detention and processing facilities—curbing unannounced “walk‑throughs,” requiring more advance notice and tighter conditions—which House Democrats and members of Minnesota’s delegation say unlawfully obstruct traditional oversight and have formally challenged, using the Whipple Building encounter as a local test case. A federal judge declined to enjoin the policy, leaving the rules in place while the lawsuit proceeds and additional briefing is sought, even as related appeals have paused some protester protections and other litigation over the federal Operation Metro Surge continues.

A federal judge has ordered ICE to affirmatively release 5‑year‑old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from custody by Tuesday and barred their removal while their immigration case proceeds; the pair are currently held in Texas after being arrested in a Minnesota ICE operation. The decision is a case‑specific habeas win and does not impose a broad injunction against the administration’s ongoing Metro Surge in Minnesota, which the court indicated will be addressed on a case‑by‑case basis.

A federal judge declined Minnesota’s request to halt Operation Metro Surge — the Trump-era ICE enforcement effort — finding the state had not met the standard for a preliminary injunction and allowing ICE and Border Patrol to continue operations in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. The broader lawsuit will proceed while individual habeas petitions and any narrower court orders continue to be adjudicated in parallel.

An 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay/partial stay of U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez’s injunction that barred ICE and DHS from detaining, tear‑gassing, or otherwise using force on peaceful protesters and legal observers around Operation Metro Surge, effectively restoring broader authority for ICE and Border Patrol to use crowd‑control tactics while the government’s appeal proceeds. Civil‑rights lawyers and the ACLU warn the ruling raises the risk of arrest or force against activists, and confrontations — including deployments of tear gas and pepper spray — have continued and intensified in the Twin Cities.

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.

Video footage shows federal agents detaining a man at a St. Paul gas station; DHS says the man was from Honduras with a final order of removal issued in 2020 and that Border Patrol broke the vehicle window and arrested him only after “multiple warnings and several minutes” as a crowd formed. The takedown sparked protests and a Maple Grove High School walkout, and DHS says a U.S. citizen in the crowd refused lawful orders, hit an officer and was arrested — a claim that contradicts protesters’ accounts circulating online.