Judge Declines to Pause Minnesota Immigration Agent Surge (1)

A US judge has denied Minnesota’s request to pause the Trump administration’s recent surge of thousands of immigration enforcement agents in the state.

US District Judge Katherine Menendez’s order will allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies to maintain approximately 3,000 officers deployed in Minnesota — primarily in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul — since Operation Metro Surge launched late last year.

Menendez said that at this early point in Minnesota’s lawsuit, it was unclear which side had the stronger case and that as a result, she was “reluctant” to halt Operation Metro Surge.

She also pointed out a recent ruling by an appeals court which overturned her order prohibiting federal officers from retaliating against peaceful protesters in Minnesota.

Her decision followed another deadly incident in Minneapolis, when Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse and US citizen, was shot by federal agents and killed on Jan. 24 while being restrained on the ground.

Menendez’s order isn’t a final ruling on the legality of the operation, but it marks an early setback for state and local authorities who have condemned the federal operation as an act of political retaliation that is terrorizing Minnesotans. An administration official previously told the court that region normally has about 80 officers performing immigration enforcement operations.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling “another huge legal win in Minnesota,” in a post on X, while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said city officials were “disappointed” with the ruling.

The administration maintains the surge is necessary to root out migrants who are illegally in the US and tackle fraud.

Minnesota officials have broadly accused the administration of violating its power to manage state affairs and law enforcement.

The Justice Department has argued that Minnesota and the Twin Cities are wrongly trying to exercise a “veto” over how the US government enforces federal laws.

The latest order came amid growing scrutiny of the tactics that officers from ICE and other agencies are using as they respond to a wave of demonstrations.

Minnesota filed its lawsuit in mid-January, shortly after an ICE agent shot and killed a Minneapolis woman, Renee Good.

Menendez is presiding over a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of protesters. On Jan. 16, she temporarily barred officers with ICE and other federal agencies from arresting or detaining peaceful demonstrators or using pepper-spray and nonlethal munitions against them. A federal appeals court later blocked that order from taking effect while the case is pending.

Read More: Minnesota Sues Noem Over ICE Tactics After Fatal Shooting

The case is Minnesota v. Noem, 26-cv-190, US District Court, District of Minnesota (Minneapolis).

To contact the reporters on this story:
Zoe Tillman in Washington at ztillman2@bloomberg.net;
Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

Wendy Benjaminson

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.