A federal judge has dismissed multiple lawsuits against Minnesota over so-called 'sanctuary policies.'
Chief Judge Eric Tostrud has rejected the administration's claims that local ordinances in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Hennepin County unconstitutionally block federal immigration enforcement.
Tostrud ruled Monday that the government's legal arguments failed, marking another courtroom defeat for the federal crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions.
The Justice Department must now decide whether to appeal the decision to a higher court.
In filing the suit last fall, the Justice Department said not only are the sanctuary city policies illegal under federal law, but, the refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities resulted in the release of dangerous criminals from police custody who would otherwise be subject to removal.
“Minnesota officials are jeopardizing the safety of their own citizens by allowing illegal aliens to circumvent the legal process,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi at the time. “This Department of Justice will continue to bring litigation against any jurisdiction that uses sanctuary policies to defy federal law and undermine law enforcement.”
Minnesota was one of the latest jurisdictions targeted over their immigration enforcement policies by the Trump administration, in his first year. The DOJ also sued Colorado, Illinois, New York and New Jersey as well as several cities including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City and Rochester, New York.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at the time that his state is not stopping the federal government from partnering with local law enforcement to prosecute dangerous individuals.
“This baseless lawsuit is just more political retaliation against Minnesota and we will respond in court,” Ellison, a Democrat, said in a statement.
All of that took place well before the federal government launched "Operation Metro Surge" in the state, deploying thousands of federal agents to Minnesota in a large-scale enforcement operation. It heavily targeted the Twin Cities and expanded statewide in Minnesota. The operation resulted in over 4,000 arrests and sparked significant national controversy and state resistance.
That included the shooting deaths of U.S. Citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
