Gary Grumbach is an NBC News legal affairs reporter, based in Washington, D.C.
A federal judge on Saturday declined to immediately halt Operation Metro Surge, allowing the sweeping federal immigration enforcement effort to continue in Minnesota while a broader legal challenge plays out.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez denied a request from Minnesota officials for a temporary restraining order, despite acknowledging what she described as “profound and even heart breaking” consequences for communities in the state. She said “those are not the only harms to be considered,” however. “The Eighth Circuit has recently reiterated that entry or injunction barring the federal government from enforcing federal law imposes significant harm on the government,” the judge wrote. Minnesota officials argued that the operation violates the Tenth Amendment by unlawfully pressing the state to change or abandon so-called sanctuary policies and cooperate more fully with federal immigration authorities. Menendez said those arguments, at least at this state, were not strong enough to justify blocking the operation. “The inferences to be drawn regarding the allegedly coercive purpose of Operation Metro Surge are not as one-sided as Plaintiffs suggest,” she wrote, rejecting the state’s claim that the operation was being carried out “in brazenly lawless ways” to force changes in state and local law. The Minnesota Attorney General's office did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
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