Michael Stokes Paulsen, Distinguished University Chair and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, wrote an op-ed for the Minnesota Star Tribune examining efforts to hold federal immigration agents legally accountable for actions during Operation Metro Surge. Paulsen argues that federal officers are subject to state and federal law when acting outside their lawful authority and discusses recent prosecutions and investigations in Minnesota.
From the op-ed:
Finally. Legal accountability has begun for the Trump administration’s crimes in Minnesota during the past year.
For more than three bitterly cold months last winter, ICE agents and other federal immigration officers engaged in a reign of terror and lawlessness in Minnesota. Acting in the name of the people of the United States, wielding the power of the national government, and operating under the direction and with the full support of Trump administration officials, federal agents engaged in a persistent and systematic pattern of flagrantly unconstitutional, indiscriminately abusive and frequently criminal acts during “Operation Metro Surge.”
At its height, more than 3,000 federal officers invaded Minnesota – to date, the Trump regime’s largest deployment of ICE and other federal agents to a single state.
Lest we forget, this hostile federal force wreaked havoc on Minnesota residents – U.S. citizens and immigrants (including many lawfully present) alike. Federal agents made countless false arrests and improper detentions, violating constitutional due process rights as well as performing illegal searches, seizures and arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Federal immigration officers broke down doors, smashed windows, invaded homes, indiscriminately seized and detained innocent persons without judicial warrant, denied legal process, separated families, mistreated detainees, imprisoned people in poor and overcrowded conditions and illegally flew dozens of men, women and even young children out of state without notice, hearings, access to legal counsel, or other required procedural protections.
