The Department of Justice is going after Minnesota’s sanctuary policies in a new lawsuit, arguing that the state is defying federal law and undermining law enforcement.
“Minnesota officials are jeopardizing the safety of their own citizens by allowing illegal aliens to circumvent the legal process,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This Department of Justice will continue to bring litigation against any jurisdiction that uses sanctuary policies to defy federal law and undermine law enforcement.”
According to the DOJ, Minnesota’s, Minneapolis’, St. Paul’s, and Hennepin County’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration officials enable the “release of dangerous criminals from police custody who would otherwise be subject to removal, including illegal aliens convicted of aggravated assault, burglary, and drug and human trafficking, onto the streets.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city “will not back down” and will “fight with all our strength for our immigrant neighbors, and like every time we’ve faced Donald Trump in court, we will win.”
Similarly, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter declared that city employees “don’t work for the president, we work for the people who live here.”
The lawsuit states that Governor Tim Walz (D) has “reaffirmed and celebrated that Minnesota and various localities within the state intend to continue obstructing federal immigration enforcement, allowing criminals in their jurisdictions to be released into American communities despite known dangerous consequences.”
“The challenged laws are not a mere passive effort to avoid providing state resources to Federal officials but rather are an active and deliberate effort to obstruct federal immigration enforcement by, among other things, impeding the communication between federal and local law enforcement that keeps Americans safe,” the filing adds.
In April, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal authorities to “restore the enforcement of United States law,” establishing appropriate consequences for areas with sanctuary status.
