Minnesota wins dismissal of federal lawsuit over immigration detainers

By Elyse Apel
The Center Square

Minnesota has won a legal battle against the Trump administration over immigration detainers after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the administration.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed the lawsuit in September against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the state of Minnesota, and several local governments.

The lawsuit was an attempt to force Minnesota state and local law enforcement agencies to hold an illegal immigrant based on an immigration detainer even if the person would otherwise be released from custody.

“The court’s clear ruling … reaffirmed the longstanding principle that the federal government cannot force Minnesota or any state to participate in its misguided immigration-enforcement efforts or commandeer state resources for it,” Ellison said. “State sovereignty and federalism are bedrock principles that lie at the very heart of our federal and state constitutions, and the court once again affirmed them today.”

The Trump administration said federal law preempted a 2025 legal opinion from Ellison saying Minnesota law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from holding someone based on an immigration detainer if that person would otherwise be released from custody.

Judge Eric Tostrud of the U.S. District Court of the District of Minnesota was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018.

Tostrud dismissed the administration’s lawsuit in a decision released on Monday.

As part of its argument, the Justice Department cited the Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal law generally takes precedence over conflicting state laws. It says Minnesota’s actions conflicted with federal law, causing “ongoing, certainly impending injuries.”

Tostrud dismissed the challenge both for lack of jurisdiction and because the federal government cannot “commandeer” states and localities to enforce federal immigration law.

He added that it would be legally “inconsistent” to rule in favor of the federal government.

Tostrud also dismissed challenges to Minnesota’s restrictions on sharing driver’s license information and immigration-related ordinances and policies in Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Hennepin County.

Ellison said this lawsuit was just another example of attempted federal overreach to enforce “failed immigration-enforcement policies.”

“The Trump administration, however, has no regard for this constitutional principle, so it nonetheless filed this lawsuit as part of its ongoing war against the people of Minnesota and its efforts to intimidate us into submission,” he said. “They keep learning over and over that the people of Minnesota won’t be intimidated. Nor will I.”

Federal courts have dismissed similar lawsuits in California, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York.

The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from the Department of Justice.