Chief U.S. District Judge, District of Minnesota
Appears in 5 stories
Overseeing federal litigation against ICE
From December 4, 2025, to February 12, 2026, Minneapolis hosted Operation Metro Surge, the largest federal immigration enforcement operation in American history: 2,000 agents, 4,000+ arrests, two U.S. citizens fatally shot. On February 12, White House border czar Tom Homan announced the operation's conclusion, declaring Minnesota 'now less of a sanctuary state.'
Updated May 27
Presiding over ICE enforcement litigation
Minnesota hasn't elected a Republican governor since 2006. Senator Amy Klobuchar wants to keep it that way.
Updated May 23
Ordered ICE Director to appear in court, threatened contempt proceedings
The Department of Homeland Security deployed 3,000 federal agents to Minneapolis in what it calls the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history. Two months in, two U.S. citizens are dead: Renee Good, 37, shot January 7, and Alexander Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse, shot January 24; DHS claims self-defense in both cases, but witness videos contradict that.
Threatened acting ICE Director with contempt over systematic court order violations
U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez denied Minnesota's request for a temporary restraining order against Operation Metro Surge on February 2, 2026. She cited insufficient proof of constitutional violations, though she acknowledged evidence of racial profiling and excessive force.
Updated May 20
Threatened acting ICE director with contempt charges
An ICE agent shot Renee Nicole Good through her car window on a Minneapolis street January 7, killing the 37-year-old mother instantly. Federal officials claimed self-defense, saying Good weaponized her Honda Pilot to ram agents. But video shows something different: a woman slowly backing up and pulling forward, trying to leave, before an officer fires three shots into her head. "Having seen the video myself, that is bullshit," said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The shooter: Jonathan Ross, a 43-year-old deportation officer who was dragged fifty yards by a vehicle he tried to forcibly enter just six months earlier. Seventeen days later, on January 24, Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and legal gun owner. Video shows Pretti filming agents with his phone, getting pepper-sprayed, wrestled to the ground by six agents, then shot at least ten times. DHS claimed he was armed and violent. Video evidence again contradicts the official account. At least six federal prosecutors resigned in protest over how investigations were being handled—pressure to investigate victims' families rather than the shooters. On January 24, FBI agent Tracee Mergen, supervisor of the Public Corruption Squad in Minneapolis, resigned over pressure to "reclassify/discontinue the investigation" into Good's killing and focus instead on her widow Becca. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara noted that two of the city's three homicides in 2026 were committed by federal agents.
Updated May 19
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