A federal judge says she won't halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.
Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit ''legally frivolous.''
The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution's 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government's powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.
The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local ''sanctuary laws and policies.''
State and local officials argued that the surge amounts to retaliation after the federal government's initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed. They also maintain that the surge has amounted to an unconstitutional drain on state and local resources, noting that schools and businesses have been shuttered in the wake of what local officials say are aggressive, poorly trained and armed federal officers.
''Because there is evidence supporting both sides' arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side's competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction," the judge said in the ruling.
The judge also said she was influenced by the government's recent victory at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court had set aside her decision putting limits on the use of force by immigration officers against peaceful Minnesota protesters.
