Trump DOJ calls Minnesota ICE lawsuit ‘legally frivolous’ in court filing

The Trump administration on Monday requested a federal choose to disclaim the state of Minnesota’s movement to restrict ICE operations within the state, arguing it will be an “unprecedented” overreach.

The Division of Justice (DOJ) argued in a submitting in response to the Minnesota lawsuit that the state was “successfully searching for a state veto over the enforcement of federal regulation,” calling the time period “legally frivolous” and an “absurdity.”

“The tenth Modification doesn’t present for deportation of states dissatisfied with the federal authorities’s enforcement of federal regulation,” the DOJ response mentioned.

The state sued the Trump administration final week, searching for to dam an enormous federal immigration enforcement surge that the court docket says has flooded the Twin Cities with armed brokers, stoked worry and unrest and interfered with state and native authorities.

ICE SAYS 2 PROTESTERS WERE ARRESTED IN MINNESOTA FOR ALLEGED ASSAULT OF OFFICERS

Federal immigration officers are seen in Minneapolis on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (AP Picture/John Locher)

An order blocking the operation “would represent an unprecedented act of judicial overreach,” the federal government’s submitting mentioned. The DOJ additional alleged that federal officers and brokers had been experiencing a rise in “violent assaults” whereas conducting enforcement operations.

A protester is detained by federal brokers close to the place Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis earlier this month, on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. (AP Picture/Adam Grey)

“In and round Minneapolis, ICE brokers working out of the St. Paul Workplace have encountered elevated threats, violence, aggression, assaults, automobile blocking, and obstruction of immigration enforcement operations,” the submitting mentioned.

MINNESOTA AG KEITH ELLISON DENIES DON LEMON, ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS VIOLATE OPERATION AS DOJ MULLS CHARGES

The state has till Thursday to reply to the Trump administration’s arguments.

Protesters conflict with regulation enforcement officers outdoors an ICE facility on January 8, 2026, as they try to forestall federal brokers and automobiles from leaving throughout a protest towards ICE following the deadly capturing of a 37-year-old lady. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu through Getty Photographs)

The lawsuit towards the state comes almost per week after an ICE agent fatally shot a 37-year-old Minneapolis lady throughout a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officers have mentioned brokers tried to make arrests when the girl tried to make use of her automobile as a weapon towards officers, prompting an ICE agent to shoot in self-defense.

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The latest wave of operations in Minnesota has pitted greater than 2,000 federal immigration officers towards neighborhood activists, protesters and agitators. The Trump administration and officers in Minnesota have traded blame for the heightened tensions.

Greg Wehner of Fox Information Digital and The Related Press contributed to this report.