A US federal judge on Monday dismissed subpoenas issued by the Trump administration against authorities of Minnesota during a major operation to arrest immigrants in the state in January.
The operation, dubbed 'Metro Surge,' began in late December and led to the arrest of 4,000 undocumented migrants by mid-February, according to the Trump administration. It also saw the deaths of two protesters, killed by federal agents as they demonstrated against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
On 20 January, eight days after the Government of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St Paul challenged the deployment of federal agents in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, the Trump administration issued a series of demands for documents. These demands targeted local authorities, federal Judge Patrick Schiltz of Minneapolis noted in his ruling, dated 17 June but released on Monday.
The demands covered records related to the enforcement of federal immigration laws since 1 January 2025—a time frame preceding Trump’s return to office—without establishing credible links to potential criminal misconduct, Judge Schiltz explained.
“The dominant purpose of the challenged subpoenas is to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so,” the judge stated.
He also referred to a ruling made in March by a Washington-based federal judge, which similarly overturned demands for records in a case targeting Jerome Powell, the outgoing Federal Reserve chair later replaced by Trump.
