Judge halts federal sweep of Minnesota refugees

MINNEAPOLIS (CN) — A federal judge issued a rebuke to the Trump administration Wednesday, halting a sweeping operation that led to the warrantless arrests of lawfully admitted refugees across Minnesota.

In a 32-page order, U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim granted a temporary restraining order against “Operation PARRIS,” halting the operation for now and requiring the immediate release of previously detained refugees — including a mandate that those detainees are returned to Minnesota if they have been transported elsewhere.

“They are not committing crimes on our streets, nor did they illegally cross the border,” said Tunheim, a Bill Clinton appointee. “Refugees have a legal right to be in the United States, a right to work, a right to live peacefully — and importantly, a right not to be subjected to the terror of being arrested and detained without warrants or cause.”

The initiative, launched by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in early January, was designed to target and “reexamine” the legal status of 5,600 refugees in Minnesota who have not yet transitioned to permanent residency.

In the original class action, The Advocates For Human Rights and several refugees claim DHS agents have arrested and detained — without notice or warrant — individuals previously screened and admitted into the country as refugees.

The group claims Homeland Security is detaining individuals who have undergone rigorous background checks and vetting, and have been approved by multiple federal agencies for entry into the country.

The lead plaintiff, an unnamed refugee, claims he was pulled over by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on his way to work, and detained without a warrant. He has no criminal history and has never been placed in removal proceedings.

The plaintiff’s brother, who witnessed the arrest, fears that he too will be arrested by ICE without cause.

Another unnamed individual claims he was detained after an agent in plain clothes knocked on his door claiming to have hit his car. When the man went outside to inspect the damage, he was surrounded by armed men, arrested and immediately flown to a detention center in Texas, before being released onto the streets of a state thousands of miles from his home.

The judge blocked Trump administration agencies from arresting or detaining individuals solely because they have not yet received permanent status while also ordering the immediate release and return of refugees already detained.

Tunheim addressed aspects of a specific statute the Trump administration has anchored its argument on, requiring refugees to submit to DHS for inspection after one year of residency in the U.S.

Tunheim noted the government is using this to justify “prolonged detention” without statutory backing, ruling that the Trump administration’s interpretation of the statute would subject every refugee to detention precisely at the one-year mark.

“That outcome is nonsensical, and would cause many unadjusted refugees to celebrate their one-year anniversary in this country in a jail cell,” Tunheim said.

Tunheim also took the step of ordering that released refugees be connected with the appropriate counsel to ensure detainees are not released and left outside in the dangerous cold of winter.

“America serves as a haven of individual liberties in a world too often full of tyranny and cruelty,” Tunheim said. “We abandon that ideal when we subject our neighbors to fear and chaos.”

The restraining order will remain in effect until the judge rules on a preliminary injunction against the operation during a hearing scheduled for Feb. 19.

Wednesday’s order comes amid a wave of legal developments across Minnesota, as federal courts grapple with the impact of Trump’s widespread immigration and enforcement priorities — including challenges to detention conditions and disputes over the legality of the federal immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities.