DOJ says claims in lawsuit seeking to stop Minnesota ICE surge are "legally frivolous"
The U.S. Department of Justice said Monday that claims made in a lawsuit filed in an effort to stave off the Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge in Minnesota are "legally frivolous."
The state of Minnesota, and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed the lawsuit last week, arguing the unprecedented surge of agents is endangering citizens. In the past two weeks, federal agents have shot two people in Minneapolis.
Also on Monday, the DOJ appealed a recent ruling that put limits on the tactics federal law enforcement are permitted to use against protestors.
The Department of Homeland Security says 3,000 federal agents have been deployed to Minnesota, and touted that the agency had made 3,000 arrests since the onset of "Operation Metro Surge" last month.
Here's the latest on the ICE surge in Minnesota
- The University of Minnesota is making changes as students return for the spring semester on Tuesday. Building access is tightening, and the university says students will have the option to attend some classes virtually.
- Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said in a social media post on Sunday night that federal officers are "upholding the law" and local and state police "have been ordered to stand down and surrender."
- According to new reporting from CNN, the Trump administration is still discussing invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, but only as a last resort.
- The Department of Justice says it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local ICE official apparently serves as a pastor.
- Unions, community members and faith leaders are calling for an economic blackout on Jan. 23, urging Minnesotans not to go to work, school, or go shopping in a response to Operation Metro Surge.
Local law enforcement leaders accuse federal forces of violating Minnesotans' civil rights
Public safety leaders from across the Twin Cities on Tuesday called on some of the federal agents in the area to correct their conduct, accusing them of violating civil rights and torpedoing trust in law enforcement.
"Recently as the last two weeks, we as the law enforcement community have been receiving endless complaints about civil rights violations in our streets from U.S. citizens," Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said.
"I am seeing and hearing about people in Hennepin County stopped, questioned and harassed solely because of the color of their skin — 'solely' being the operative word here," Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said. "This is not OK now and it's never been OK."
Witt said the actions of federal agents are undermining efforts to restore trust in law enforcement in an area that has been scarred by police violence.
"The trust is fragile right now, and it is an essential element to public safety," Witt said. "Today that trust is being damaged, broken by the questionable and sometimes unethical actions of some — some — federal agents, particularly in these last recent weeks."
Bruley, Witt and St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry spoke at the morning news conference, calling for greater accountability for the federal agents here and more oversight from the people in charge.
"We demand more from our federal government," Witt said. "More professionalism, more accountability, more humanity. We demand lawful policing that respects human dignity."
Bruley claimed it is "a small group of agents within the surge in the metro area that are performing or acting this way" and said he and the other leaders are not calling for an end to immigration enforcement.
"We're calling to action that we have more supervision over the surge, that this type of civil rights violations have to stop," he said.
Bruley said he has attempted to reach out to federal leaders to discuss the issue, but has met with disorder and irresponsibility.
"When you call ICE leadership or you call Border Patrol leadership or you call Homeland Security leadership, they're unable to tell you what their people were doing that day," he said. "They're hard to find a leader to give you to, they like to give you a website to go file a complaint, but the complaint requires identity of the agents. The agents don't have nametags on, they cover their face, they don't have body cameras."
"I don't think the leaders in Washington, D.C., fully understand what some of their groups are doing here on the street and how much damage that they're causing and that is why we are here to bring this to light," Bruley added.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara was not at Tuesday's presser, said something similar in a "60 Minutes" interview.
"Targeted, precise, preplanned operations on violent offenders, that is a good thing," O'Hara said. "But I'm concerned that people in the administration don't actually understand the reality of what's happening on the street."
DOJ calls claims in Minnesota lawsuit seeking immediate stop to ICE surge "legally frivolous"
The U.S. Department of Justice says claims made in a lawsuit seeking an immediate stop to the surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota are "legally frivolous."
The lawsuit, filed late last week, argues the unprecedented surge of an estimated 3,000 federal agents is endangering citizens. It accuses ICE of violating the First and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
According to the memorandum, the DOJ argues the plaintiffs' "Tenth Amendment and related claims have not a shred of legal support" and that their "motion should therefore be denied." The federal agency made the remark in a memorandum filed with the U.S. District Court in Minnesota on Monday, which argued against a motion made by the state of Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul for a temporary injunction.
How the U of M is making changes amid federal immigration enforcement
With thousands of federal agents active in the state as part of Operation Metro Surge, the University of Minnesota says it's making changes to support students, faculty and staff.
The university says students will have the option to attend some classes virtually, depending on their courses, and guidance on that will come from their deans' offices.
Building access is also tightening. Nearly all buildings will require badge access, which means carrying a U Card is imperative.
Some public spaces, including student unions and museums, will remain open to the public.
Attorney for Renee Good's family says feds haven't responded to demand of evidence
The lawyer for the family of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, says he issued a demand to federal officials last week to preserve evidence, but is still waiting for a response.
"We will move forward with or without any government agency sharing any evidence," said Antonio Romanucci, of Chicago-based firm Romanucci and Blandin.
The FBI is investigating the shooting, but said there is "no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation."
ICE arrests elderly, underdressed Hmong-American man in frigid cold over mistaken identity, family says
Amid a blare of horns and shouting from witnesses, federal agents removed an elderly Hmong-American man from his St. Paul, Minnesota, home on Sunday.
"It is heartbreaking. It is infuriating to see U.S. citizens, and this gentleman was a U.S. citizen, ripped out of his house without a shirt on, without a coat, without pants, wearing his boxers and Crocs. I don't know how anyone could watch that happen to anyone," Mark Goldberg said.