A week after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a federal judge in Minnesota ruled not to order a halt on President Donald Trump‘s immigration enforcement surge in the city on Jan. 31 as tensions remain high on the ground.
U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez’s ruling came as the result of a lawsuit by state officials accusing the federal government of an “unconstitutional and unlawful” deployments, calling it a “federal crackdown.” The lawsuit accused immigration agents of civil rights violations, including racially profiling citizens and unlawfully detaining Minnesota residents.
The Department of Justice in response to the suit said an injunction on federal immigration actions would “unduly interfere with federal immigration enforcement.”
Menendez, a Biden appointee, said in the ruling that a federal appeals court recently stayed much narrower injunction on federal immigration actions in Minnesota. If that injunction went too far, she said, “halting the entire operation … certainly would.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the ruling was disappointing, but the city would continue to pursue the lawsuit.
“This decision doesn’t change what people here have lived through – fear, disruption, and harm caused by a federal operation that never belonged in Minneapolis in the first place,” Frey said in a statement.
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the decision in a post on X, calling it a “HUGE” win.
“Neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota,” she said.
The news came as protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions are expected in communities across the country on Jan. 31, including in Florida, Vermont, Kentucky and Massachusetts, according to the USA TODAY Network.
Students at schools around the country staged walk-outs on Jan. 30 in protest of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. In Springfield, Missouri, more than 100 students gathered outside Kickapoo High School with anti-ICE signs, some proudly displaying a Mexican flag. Students in Knoxville, Tennessee, walked out of classes or skipped school to join a protest downtown. Later that night, a vigil for Pretti was held in Corpus Christi, Texas. In the Cincinnati area, local businesses closed as part of nationwide protests.
“Our country is built from immigrants from the ground up,” Emma Noe, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, told the Knoxville News Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. “Our ancestors would be disappointed.”
Hundreds showed up in cities including Indianapolis and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Jan. 31 to protest the Trump administration’s immigration actions.
Several hundred gathered at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis, holding signs and chanting “ICE out!” as they marched. The rally was one of several planned across Indianapolis.
“I’m appalled by what’s been happening in our country,” Jennifer Yumib, 64, of Indianapolis, told The Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. “Seeing people torn from their homes without cause. People shot in the streets for trying to help others. This is not what we should be as a country.”
Nearly 300 people lined sidewalks in Palm Beach Gardens, reported The Palm Beach Post, also part of the Network. “Immigration is America” and “United Against ICE,” read signs.
“We know people who are afraid to send their kids to school,” said Lauren Furst, a Palm Beach Gardens resident who described a climate of pervasive anxiety. “We have a friend who was picked up while dropping his kids off at school.”
At one point during the rally, people in a passing vehicle yelled and gestured obscenities at the protesters, The Palm Beach Post reported. Other vehicles honked in support.
-Jasmine Fernández, The Palm Beach Post, and Tony Cook, The Indianapolis Star
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested in connection with covering a protest at a church in Minnesota. The arrests stem from a federal investigation launched after protesters interrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as a pastor.
A federal indictment unsealed on Jan. 30 shows Lemon, another journalist and several activists present at a protest at the church were charged with multiple counts related to interrupting religious freedoms at a place of worship.
Lemon was released on his own recognizance with the promise to return to court, LA Mayor Karen Bass said.
“I’ve spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon said outside the courthouse in LA. “There is no more important time than right now, this very moment for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable.”
On. Jan 30, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a Department of Justice civil rights investigation into Pretti’s shooting, which came after Homeland Security reversed course and handed the reins of a limited “use of force” investigation to the FBI.
Initially, the Homeland Security Investigations unit was set to conduct its own probe, prompting calls from across the political aisle for an independent investigation
“This is what I would describe as a standard investigation by the FBI when there’s circumstances like what we saw last Saturday,” Blanche said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called for an impartial investigation into Pretti’s death a week ago, and said that “Trump’s right hand cannot be responsible for investigating his left hand.”
In the aftermath of Pretti’s death, state investigators sued the Department of Homeland Security, saying federal authorities had blocked them from the scene of the incident. A judge soon ordered DHS not to alter or destroy evidence.
Walz has held talks in recent days with President Trump and Tom Homan, the White House border czar, and signaled hope that state investigators would be able to conduct their own independent investigation into the fatal shooting.
On the night of Jan. 30, a protest in Los Angeles grew heated as a clash broke out between protesters and law enforcement officers, who deployed chemical irritants on the crowd. The clash unfolded at the loading dock of a federal court building, where about 200 people had gathered despite warnings from police to leave.
Protesters pulled trash from a dumpster to build a makeshift barricade against a door, attempting to keep federal agents inside. Officers then exited through another door and began kicking their way through the barricade.
Anti-ICE slogans appeared to have been graffitied onto parts of the loading dock. Tensions spiked when DHS officers emerged from the loading dock. Demonstrators surged forward, walking the agents backward. In the back-and-forth that followed, officers repeatedly pushed protesters away. Just before 4:30 p.m., the crowd swelled even larger at the dock entrance. As officers again pushed forward, a chemical irritant was deployed.
-Paris Barraza
Contributing: Christopher Cann, Michael Loria and Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY; Reuters
(This story was updated to add a video.)