The Latest: Judge considers legality of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis
A federal judge is hearing arguments Monday on whether she should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that has led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. The shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol officer on Saturday has only added urgency to the case.
Since the original court filing, the state and cities have substantially added to their original request in an effort to restore the order that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota on Dec. 1. The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez to order a reduction in the number of federal law enforcement officers and agents in Minnesota back to the level before the surge and to limit the scope of the enforcement operation.
Here’s the latest:
Federal attorney: More than 3,000 immigration officers are taking part in Minnesota surge
More than 3,000 federal immigration officers are part of the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, a Department of Justice attorney told a federal judge on Monday.
Brantley Mayers, counsel to the DOJ’s assistant attorney general, told U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez that at least 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and at least 1,000 Customs and Border Patrol officers were part of the operation, and that he would provide her with an exact number later.
Minnesota state and Twin Cities officials have asked Menendez to halt the immigration crackdown, which has led to widespread unrest. Two Minnesota residents have been shot and killed by immigration officials since the crackdown began.
Menendez asked Mayers why so many officers were needed. Mayers said it had to do with complications surrounding how immigration officers typically stage for enforcement operations, gathering in parking lots.
Twin Cities officials have taken steps to prohibit city-owned parking lots and garages from being used in immigration enforcement operations. Chicago officials took similar steps after immigration crackdowns in that city last year.
Democratic congressman tells supporters he regrets voting for DHS funding package
“I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., posted on social media. “I hear the anger from many of my constituents, and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE’s unlawful behavior and I must do a better job demonstrating that.”
Suozzi was one of the seven moderate Democrats who voted with Republicans last week to pass a tranche of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
The congressman added that the “senseless and tragic murder of Alex Pretti underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability” and called on President Donald Trump to end ICE’s enhanced enforcement operation in Minnesota.
Federal judge questions motives behind immigration crackdown in Minnesota
A federal judge asked a Justice Department attorney about the federal government’s motivation behind the immigration crackdown in Minnesota during a hearing on the state’s request for an emergency halt to the immigration enforcement.
“So the goal of the surge is not to get the state and cities to change sanctuary policies?” Menendez asked Brantley Mayers, counsel to the DOJ’s assistant attorney general.
No, Mayers said — the goal is to enforce federal law.
The judge also expressed skepticism about a letter recently sent by Attorney General Pam Bondi to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz asking the state to allow the federal government to access state voter roles, turn over state Medicaid and food assistance records, and repeal sanctuary policies. All three requests are the subject of litigation, she noted.
“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?”
Mayers said one lawful action shouldn’t be used to discredit another lawful action.
“I don’t see how the fact that we’re also doing additional things that we are allowed to do, that the Constitution has vested us with doing, would in any way negate another piece of the same operation, the same surge.”
Trump says he’s spoken with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
And the president said the two “actually” seem to be on the same page in wanting to work together as it relates to immigration issues in Minnesota.
Trump said the people the administration is seeking “are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession” and Walz “very respectfully, understood that.”
“He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I!” Trump wrote in a social media post which was notable for its warm and collaborative tone toward Minnesota’s governor, whom Trump frequently derides.
Arguments underway in court on federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota
At issue is whether the federal court should at least temporarily halt the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that’s led to the fatal shootings of two people by government officers.
In arguments before U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, lawyers for the state and Twin Cities argued the situation is so dire on the street as to require the court to halt the federal government’s immigration enforcement actions.
“If this is not stopped right here, right now, I don’t think anybody who is seriously looking at this problem can have much faith in how our republic is going to go in the future,” Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Brian Carter said.
The Justice Department’s attorneys were set to speak later Monday.
Judge Menendez asked attorneys for the state and cities where she should draw the line between legitimate law enforcement response and one that violates the Constitution.
Former Vice President Mike Pence calls for ‘full and transparent’ investigation of fatal shooting
“The images of this incident are deeply troubling and a full and transparent investigation of this officer involved shooting must take place immediately,” the Republican who served during President Trump’s first term wrote on X. He also said he was praying for Alex Pretti’s family as well as Minnesota citizens and state and federal law enforcement officers.
“The American people deserve to have safe streets, our laws enforced and our constitutional rights of Freedom of Speech, peaceable assembly and the right to keep and bear Arms respected and preserved all at the same time,” Pence wrote. “That’s how Law and Order and Freedom work together in America.”
Pence is one of a growing number of Republicans to press for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota.
Attorney representing Renee Good’s family releases a statement on the latest shooting
The attorney representing the family of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by a federal immigration officer earlier this month in Minneapolis, said in a statement that it was “terrifying, deeply disturbing, and heartbreaking” that another person had died.
“It is time for a hard reset,” attorney Antonio Romanucci said in the statement released Sunday. “ICE agents can leave Minneapolis. The residents of Minnesota cannot. We call for a complete and immediate end to the ICE invasion of this beautiful American city.”
Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate drops out, citing opposition to federal ‘retribution’
Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Chris Madel, a Minneapolis attorney who provided legal support to the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good, ended his GOP campaign in a surprise video announcement Monday.
Madel called the recent immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities an “unmitigated disaster.”
“I cannot support the national Republican’s stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” Madel said. “Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”
He was among a large group of candidates seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, who dropped his reelection bid earlier this month. Madel described himself as a “pragmatist,” and said national Republicans “have made it nearly impossible for a Republican to win a statewide election in Minnesota.”
“I have read about and I have spoken to help countless United States citizens who have been detained in Minnesota due to the color of their skin,” Madel said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doubles down on his administration’s support for DHS
That support from the Republican governor for the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement efforts came Monday as tensions in Minnesota ratcheted up over the weekend following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester by a federal agent.
DeSantis pointed to his administration’s signing of cooperative agreements with Homeland Security agencies when it comes to detaining people in the U.S. illegally as a model for other states. As he has before, DeSantis noted that state and local law enforcement agencies had detained nearly 20,000 people in the U.S. illegally in the past year.
DeSantis made no mention of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a federal officer Saturday. Following the shooting, several Republican elected officials have questioned President Trump’s hard-line immigration crackdown in Minnesota, but DeSantis was not among them.
In shooting’s aftermath, Trump says he’s sending his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minnesota
Homan will report directly to Trump, the president said in a social media post, adding that Homan is “tough but fair.”
“He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there,” Trump said Monday morning.
Republican calls for investigation grow after the fatal shooting in Minneapolis
A growing number of Republicans are pressing for a deeper investigation into federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot a man in Minneapolis, a sign the Trump administration’s accounting of events may face bipartisan scrutiny.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino sought testimony from leaders at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, saying “my top priority remains keeping Americans safe.”
A host of other congressional Republicans, including Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas and Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, pressed for more information. Their statements, in addition to concern expressed from several Republican governors, reflected a party struggling with how to respond to Saturday’s fatal shooting.
Read more about Republicans’ response to the shooting
Trump, unbowed by backlash to Minneapolis shooting, blames Democrats for ‘chaos’
The shooting of Pretti prompted some fellow Republicans to question Trump’s hard-line immigration crackdown, but the president on Sunday night continued to blame Democratic officials.
After remaining relatively quiet on Sunday, the Republican president in two lengthy social media posts said that Democrats had encouraged people to obstruct law enforcement operations. He also called on officials in Minnesota to work with immigration officers and “turn over” people who were in the U.S. illegally.
“Tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.
Trump’s refusal to back away from his pledge to carry out the largest deportation program in history and the surge of immigration officers to heavily Democratic cities came as more Republicans began calling for a deeper investigation and expressing unease with some of the administration’s tactics.
Read more about Trump’s comments
Videos of the deadly Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti contradict government statements
Leaders of law enforcement organizations expressed alarm Sunday over the latest deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis while use-of-force experts criticized the Trump administration’s justification of the killing, saying bystander footage contradicted its narrative of what prompted it.
The federal government also faced criticism over the lack of a civil rights inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department and its efforts to block Minnesota authorities from conducting their own review of the killing of Pretti.
In a bid to ease tensions, the International Association of Chiefs of Police called on the White House to convene discussions “as soon as practicable” among federal, state and local law enforcement.
While questions remained about the latest confrontation, use-of-force experts told The Associated Press that bystander video undermined federal authorities’ claim that Pretti “approached” a group of lawmen with a firearm and that a Border Patrol officer opened fire “defensively.” There has been no evidence made public, they said, that supports a claim by Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino that Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, intended to “massacre law enforcement.”
Read more about the videos
Judge set to hear arguments on Minnesota’s immigration crackdown after fatal shootings
The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Department of Homeland Security earlier this month, five days after Renee Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs officer. Saturday’s shooting by a Border Patrol officer of Alex Pretti has only added urgency to the case.
Since the original filing, the state and cities have substantially added to their original request. They’re trying to restore the state of affairs that existed before the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.
The hearing is set for Monday morning in federal court in Minneapolis. Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he plans to personally attend.
They’re asking that U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez order federal law enforcement agencies to reduce the numbers of officers and agents in Minnesota to levels before the surge, while allowing them to continue to enforce immigration laws within a long list of proposed limits.
Read more about the hearing
Democrats vow to oppose homeland security funds after Minnesota shooting as shutdown risk grows
Democratic senators are vowing to oppose a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security following the shooting death of a 37-year-old Minnesota man, a stand that increases the prospect of a partial government shutdown by the end of the week.
Six of the 12 annual spending bills for the current budget year have been signed into law by President Donald Trump. Six more are awaiting action in the Senate, despite a revolt from House Democrats and mounting calls for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment.
If senators fail to act by midnight Friday, funding for Homeland Security and the other agencies covered under the six bills will lapse.
Republicans will need some Democratic support to pass the remaining spending bills in time to avoid a partial shutdown. That support was already in question after Renee Good, a mother of three, was fatally shot and killed earlier this month by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis. But the fatal shooting Saturday of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, quickly prompted Democrats to take a more forceful stand.
Read more about the possible shutdown