The U.S. Department of Justice says claims made in a lawsuit seeking an immediate stop to the surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota are “legally frivolous.”
The federal agency made the remark in a memorandum filed with the U.S. District Court in Minnesota on Monday, which argued against a motion made by the state of Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul for a temporary injunction.
While Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday, the judge said the issue was too important to wait.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez is considering whether to grant an immediate temporary restraining order limiting ICE activities. She said last week she would not issue the temporary restraining order until she heard a response from the federal government.
The lawsuit, filed late last week, argues the unprecedented surge of an estimated 3,000 federal agents is endangering citizens. It accuses ICE of violating the First and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
According to the memorandum, the DOJ argues the plaintiffs’ “Tenth Amendment and related claims have not a shred of legal support” and that their “motion should therefore be denied.”
“The Tenth Amendment at the heart of Plaintiffs’ claims is far different from the Tenth Amendment in the Constitution, which states only a ‘truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered,'” the memorandum said. “Among the powers the States did not retain at ratification is the power to veto federal action justified under one of the federal government’s enumerated powers.”
The lawsuit alleges that federal law enforcement officers have “engaged in unlawful conduct” that harms residents and “infringes” on state and local police powers. The Justice Department pushed back, saying, “Defendants are in Minnesota to enforce federal immigration law, not to run (or close) schools or enforce Minnesota state law.”
The lawsuit also alleges that DHS agents have conducted warrantless arrests, citing an instance on Dec. 5 when a federal agent entered a south Minneapolis restaurant without a warrant. When the general manager of the restaurant asked for it, the agent said, “We don’t need one.”
Menendez is the same judge who blocked the use of pepper spray, nonlethal munitions
The notice of appeal comes days after Menendez blocked federal agents deployed to Minnesota, as part of the Trump administration’s immigration operations, from using pepper spray or nonlethal munitions on, or arresting, peaceful protesters in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota.
The order also bars federal law enforcement from stopping or detaining drivers and passengers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” that people driving near protests are forcibly interfering with law enforcement operations.
On Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the order “a little ridiculous.”
“We only use those chemical agents when there’s violence happening and perpetuating and you need to be able to establish law and order to keep people safe,” Noem said. “So that judge’s order didn’t change anything for how we’re operating on the ground, because it’s basically telling us to do what we’ve already been doing.”