Minnesota Legal Updates

What is happening in Minneapolis is turning out to be an important milestone in the effort by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to impose his autocratic rule on the country. It is still too early to tell whether Trump will ultimately succeed or fail, but Minneapolis has shown us that he will face significant hurdles. Minneapolis has revealed the true nature of Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection thugs. Far from going after the "worst of the worst," these masked agents that look and act more like an armed paramilitary than a legitimate law enforcement group, are simply terrorizing the community. The resistance in Minneapolis has inspired not one, but two songs by major songwriters. Yesterday we were blessed with both "The Streets of Minneapolis" by Bruce Springsteen and "City of Heroes" by Billy Bragg. Imagine being the subject of songs by these two songwriters in the course of a day? To quote another famous protest song, "There's something happening here." While the people in the streets, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the Department of Homeland Security gangs hurling tear gas and pepper spray get the attention, much of the battle is being waged in the courts. Today I will provide a few updates on legal developments.

On Tuesday I wrote about Operation PARRIS, a plan by the Trump administration to target over 5,000 lawful refugees in Minnesota to be detained and reinterviewed in a quest to uncover suspected fraud. As a reminder, this policy was targeted at refugees as distinct from asylum seekers. Refugees undergo extensive vetting prior to being admitted to the United States and are allowed to immediately apply for legal permanent residency. Typical of the Trump administration and DHS, Operation PARRIS was implemented in the most ham-fisted and inhumane manner possible. Instead of just arranging formal interviews, DHS thugs conducted unannounced and occasionally violent raids to arrest law-abiding individuals and then whisk them off to Texas where they were kept in primitive conditions until being interviewed. Many were then dumped on the streets of Houston with no documents, money, or telephone and forced to find their own way back to Minnesota.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that a class action lawsuit had been filed to stop Operation PARRIS. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim of the District of Minnesota granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the government from further arrests of the refugees and ordering the release and return of those currently being detained. Tunheim ruled that the lawsuit was likely to succeed because federal statutes do not permit the prolonged detention to which the refugees have been subjected. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may still conduct reinspections of refugees who have not yet been granted legal permanent residency. However, USCIS cannot arrest or detain refugees for that purpose. It is emblematic of DHS practices that Tunheim was compelled to require the government to coordinate the releases with the detainees' counsels to ensure that those released were not simply left outside in the dangerous cold. At one time, the humane treatment of those being released from detention might simply be assumed. That is not the case with this government.

There were also developments in a second legal case, this one titled Juan T.R., v. Noem, et al. Juan T.R., a citizen of Ecuador, entered the United States as a minor in or around 1999. He was detained on or about January 6, 2026, and placed in ICE custody at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Juan filed a habeas action on January 8, arguing that he was arrested under a provision that does not apply to him.

A magistrate judge ordered the government to file an answer to Juan’s petition no later than January 12, but the government failed to respond. On January 14, Chief Judge of the Minnesota District Patrick J. Schiltz ordered the government to either provide Juan with a bond hearing within 7 days or release him. The Trump administration did not comply with this order.

On January 26, Schiltz issued an order to show cause in which he noted that "This is one of dozens of court orders with which respondents have failed to comply in recent weeks" and said that the "Court’s patience is at an end." The judge then went on to order Todd Lyons, the Acting Director of ICE, to appear personally before the Court tomorrow to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court. Yesterday, Juan's attorney notified the court that Juan had been released in Texas and was being driven back to Minnesota. Therefore, Judge Schiltz cancelled tomorrow's hearing.

However, Schiltz did not end his order with cancelling the hearing. Instead, he went on to say that the release "does not end the Court’s concerns, however." The judge added an appendix to his order "that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases" and said that "The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated." Schiltz went on to say that "This list should give pause to anyone—no matter his or her political beliefs—who cares about the rule of law. ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence." The judge added, "ICE is not a law unto itself." Schiltz warned the government that ICE is, to make a pun, on very thin ice going forward. He wrote that "future noncompliance with court orders may result in future show‐cause orders requiring the personal appearances of Lyons or other government officials."

Many readers will remember 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was seized by ICE agents while on his way home from school. ICE then used Conejo Ramos as bait to lure his family into opening the door to their house. Conejo Ramos and his father were both detained by ICE and are currently being held in the Dilley detention facility in Dilley, Texas. On January 27, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas, Fred Biery, issued an order preventing the government from deporting either Conejo Ramos or his father or removing them from the court's jurisdiction. Yesterday, Representative Joaquin Castro was able to visit Conejo Ramos and his father. Castro said that he had been told by Conejo Ramos' father that the boy has "been depressed and has not been eating well" and that “he has been sleeping a lot, that he's been asking about his family, his mom, and his classmates, and saying that he wants to go back to school." According to ABC News, "Castro added that there are other children at the detention center, including several under the age of five and a two-month-old baby."

At issue in both the Conejo Ramos and Juan T.R. cases is 8 U.S.C. § 1225, an immigration law that allows expedited removal and detainment of certain aliens. The Trump administration has been applying this law very widely and in circumstances in which it was not previously used. A huge number of courts have ruled that the law is being misused and acted to stop the administration from using it to conduct large scale detainments. Nevertheless, the administration continues to unlawfully detain immigrants, leading to more and more court rulings such as the two that I mentioned.

On the same day that Castro met with Conejo Ramos, protesters gathered outside the Dilley detention facility to hold what they called "a vigil to amplify the voices and protests of children and families held in detention against their will." The group was confronted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as well as Texas Department of Public Safety troopers who used tear gas to push the crowd back.

The Trump administration has been facing almost endless losses in the court system. The only saving grace for the administration has been the Supreme Court, which almost reflexively sides with Trump on so-called "shadow docket" decisions. But to get to that stage, the Trump administration has to appeal lower court decisions. With Department of Justice staff either resigning or being fired, it is not at all clear that the department has nearly enough manpower to handle the legal burdens it is now facing. The result is that cases don't get appealed, and routine legal orders are ignored. Hence, the list of 96 violations that Judge Schiltz listed. It is only a matter of time before government lawyers or officials find themselves sanctioned by the courts. That will probably only accelerate the exodus from the department. This will also likely lead to a more visible confrontation between Trump and the courts, with our democracy hanging in the balance.