The Justice Department called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.” Lawyers argued that the Department of Homeland Security is acting within its legal powers to enforce immigration laws.
Operation Metro Surge has made the state safer with the arrests of more than 3,000 people who were in the country illegally, the government said Monday in a court filing.
“Put simply, Minnesota wants a veto over federal law enforcement,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the government is violating free speech and other constitutional rights with its unprecedented sweeps. Ellison has also dismissed the federal government's intention to charge those anti-ICE protesters who invaded a Baptist church in St Paul on Sunday morning.
The state's lawsuit filed Jan. 12 seeks an order to halt or limit the enforcement action. More filings are expected, and it's not known when U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez will make a decision.
Ilan Wurman, who teaches constitutional law at University of Minnesota Law School, doubts the state's arguments will be successful.
“There's no question that federal law is supreme over state law, that immigration enforcement is within the power of the federal government, and the president, within statutory bounds, can allocate more federal enforcement resources to states who’ve been less cooperative in that enforcement space than other states have been,” Wurman told The Associated Press.
