ICE Agents To Stay in Minnesota For Now, Judge Says

The decision is a major blow to state and city officials, who say the Trump administration’s surge of immigration agents has terrorized residents.

Despite the fatal shootings of two Americans by federal agents in Minnesota, the Trump administration’s surge of immigration officers into the Twin Cities will not be halted for now, a federal judge ruled Saturday.

The order, written by U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, acknowledged the “profound and even heartbreaking” consequences of having thousands of federal agents in the state, and said it “would be difficult to overstate the effect this operation is having on the citizens of Minnesota.”

Even so, Menendez said those are “not the only harms to be considered.”

“The Eighth Circuit has recently reiterated that entry of an injunction barring the federal government from enforcing federal law imposes significant harm on the government,” the order reads.

“Ultimately, the Court finds that the balance of harms does not decisively favor an injunction,” it adds.