President Donald Trump praised a âhighly respected Minnesota judgeâ on Thursday after she declined to issue a restraining order against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Democrat-run state.
On Wednesday, Kate Menendez, a Biden-appointed U.S. District Court judge, rejected Minnesotaâs request to temporarily block ICE from continuing immigration enforcement operations in the state as Minnesotaâs lawsuit against the Trump administrationâs immigration enforcement moves forward.
âA highly respected judge declined to block I.C.E. operations in the very politically corrupt State of Minnesota. I.C.E. will therefore be allowed to continue its highly successful operation of removing some of the most violent and vicious criminals anywhere in the World, many of them murderers, from the State,â Trump said. âThe great patriots of Law Enforcement will continue to make our Country safe. RECORD LOW CRIME NUMBERS!!!â
Menendez said her decision did not indicate how she would ultimately rule on Minnesotaâs lawsuit against the federal government, CBS News reported.
âI think the issues are really important and I donât want to suggest by not acting immediately one way or the other that I think they are unimportant,â Menendez said. âTo the contrary, I understand this is important to everybody.â
Minnesota argued that a two-week restraining order was needed to give the state time to prepare for the case, arguing that the 3,000 federal agents in Minneapolis and the surrounding areas are violating citizensâ rights.
The federal government must respond to Minnesotaâs lawsuit by January 19, and Judge Menendez denied a federal prosecutorâs request to postpone the date due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Menendez said the case was too urgent to delay.
Leftist Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Monday that the state filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in an effort to stop its surge of federal agents into the state. Ellison described Trumpâs immigration operation in Minnesota as an âinvasion.â The lawsuit was filed just days after Minneapolis resident Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent after she drove her vehicle toward him during a confrontation. The shooting death has sparked massive protests, which have continued for more than a week, and the Trump administration has deployed more federal agents to the city.
Another ICE shooting on Wednesday night sparked more outrage in Minneapolis. A federal agent was ambushed and attacked by three people while attempting to detain a suspected Venezuelan illegal immigrant in the cityâs Northside, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump also threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act on Thursday as demonstrations continued.
âIf the corrupt politicians of Minnesota donât obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,â Trump wrote on Truth Social. âThank you for you [sic] attention to this matter!â
LIVE UPDATES: Minnesota Dems Angry After Second ICE Shooting, Protesters Throw Fireworks At Police
