Immigration enforcement near MN schools can continue, federal court rules

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A federal court has denied a request on behalf of several Minnesota school districts to block immigration enforcement activity around public schools, effectively allowing any ICE activity to continue as a lawsuit moves toward trial.

Filed on behalf of Fridley Public Schools, Duluth Public Schools and Education Minnesota (EdMN), the lawsuit argues that from 1993 until early 2025, immigration enforcement activity at or near certain “sensitive” or “protected” locations, such as schools and places of worship, was generally discouraged under federal agency guidance.

However, in January 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rescinded the previous guidance and broadly directed its agents to use their discretion in choosing where to engage in enforcement operations.

In the lawsuit, Education Minnesota argues that the 2025 guidance “harms EdMN itself because it ‘perceptibly impairs’ the organization’s core activities and drains its resources,” and as a result the organization, “has had to divert hours of time and resources to train members about how to handle immigration enforcement near schools and to answer member questions about the threat of such enforcement,” which has resulted in EdMN staff spending “less time on their usual duties, like assisting members with labor rights matters.”

But a new U.S. District Court ruling filed on Wednesday says that the DHS guidance in 2025 by itself “does not direct the arrest or surveillance of any specific individuals” and that it also “does not direct where any such arrests or surveillance should occur.”

As a result, “such enforcement activity is not inherently unlawful,” according to the court.