President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda — and the aggressive left-wing hostility against the enforcement of federal immigration law — have captured headlines numerous times over the last year, and the past weekend was no exception. Here are the latest updates on immigration enforcement efforts, “sanctuary” jurisdictions, and lawless left-wing activism.

‘Operation Metro Surge’ Still on the Menu

Over the past month, thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have swarmed Minneapolis, assisted by other federal forces, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Border Patrol (USBP). The enforcement effort, called “Operation Metro Surge,” has generated some controversy related to the deaths of left-wing activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month and was challenged in federal court by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), who demanded that the immigration raids be halted completely.

Judge Katherine Menendez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denied Ellison’s request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) or preliminary injunction to stop “Operation Metro Surge” in an order released Saturday. While Menendez was critical of the enforcement operation, she explained that Minnesota had not given the court a strong enough reason to side with the state in curtailing federal operations. Menendez referred to a prior case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed an injunction Menendez had previously issued in another case, barring federal immigration agents from employing certain tactics and engaging in certain activities.

“The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated a much more circumscribed injunction which limited one aspect of the ongoing operation, namely the way immigration officers interacted with protesters,” Menendez observed. “The injunction in that case was not only much narrower than the one proposed here, but it was based on more settled precedent than that which underlies the claims now before the Court,” she claimed, noting that the appellate judges nonetheless undid her injunction, citing “irreparable harm” done to the federal government by burdening federal law enforcement efforts. “If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would.”

Menendez was also skeptical of Ellison’s chief argument, centered on states’ “equal sovereignty” and, in particular, an interpretation of a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Ellison charged that the federal government cannot “single out states for disparate treatment” in terms of law enforcement, and that the ICE surge to Minneapolis is therefore likely unconstitutional. Menendez, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, suggested that Ellison’s argument is unlikely to succeed as litigation continues. Regarding where a president does or must deploy forces to enforce federal law, the judge wrote, “There is no precedent for a court to micromanage such decisions.” She concluded, “Under the circumstances presented here, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have not shown the required likelihood of success on the merits of their Equal Sovereignty claim. In sum, the Court concludes that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs against issuing an injunction.”

Mass Deportations … without the ‘Mass’

Trump administration officials are also swatting down rumors that the president may back away from stringent immigration enforcement, which served as a key promise of his successful campaign to retake the White House, suggesting instead that he may only focus his efforts on illegal immigrants who have committed violent or otherwise harmful crimes since entering the U.S. Border Czar and former ICE chief Tom Homan, tasked with overseeing the mass deportation program touted by Trump, attempted to “set the record straight” in a Friday night interview. “If anybody thinks that Tom Homan [or] President Trump isn’t serious about immigration enforcement and having a mass deportation, then they weren't paying attention,” Homan charged. “To set the record straight — because my staff said they’ve seen a lot of people saying President Trump’s backing off on his promise of mass deportation — that’s just untrue.”

According to Homan, the Trump administration has successfully deported over 700,000 illegal immigrants and other noncitizens, while the Biden administration is estimated to have allowed over 12 million illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. between January 2021 and Biden’s departure from office. “We’re going to have a mass deportation,” Homan affirmed, “but we’re going to prioritize the arrests of criminals and public safety threats. … Prioritization is smart law enforcement, but if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table — and we’ll find you, too, and we’ll deport you, too.” The 700,000 deportations Homan noted includes both interior deportations and expedited removals, which are when illegal immigrants are stopped and turned back at the border or at ports of entry.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also reasserted the president’s commitment to following through on deportations, but seemed to say more clearly that not all illegal immigrants may be removed from the country. While Leavitt noted that “the White House and the president are open and willing to listen” to opponents or critics of mass deportations, she continued, “What I know in talking with the president and seeing what this administration has done over the course of the last year is that President Trump is never going to waver in the commitment that he made to the nearly 80 million Americans who voted for him to deport illegal alien criminals, who broke our nation’s laws to get here, and then have committed further crimes of violence against American citizens.”

Activists at It Again

Hundreds of left-wing activists gathered in San Antonio, Texas, on Friday to demand that ICE be abolished, according to a report from Breitbart News. The activists sported “Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, dyed hair, costumes, body piercings, and vulgar signs,” Breitbart reported, and were joined by hundreds of local high school students who staged a walkout to join the protest. Activists carried signs, some in Spanish, reading “F*** Nazis, F*** Trump,” “F*** ICE,” “Unmask ICE,” and other anti-ICE slogans, and wielded posters likening ICE agents to Nazis and to members of the Ku Klux Klan. One sign read, “86-47,” with the number “86” commonly interpreted as a call for assassination and the number “47” referencing Trump, the 47th president.

Speakers at the event hyped up the allusions, zeroing in on the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and casting federal law enforcement as violent, oppressive villains. The event also featured speeches alleging that ICE was involved in “kidnapping” children and keeping detained illegal immigrants in squalid and inhumane conditions. One speaker even singled out San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democrat, for not being critical enough of ICE: “The mayor says ICE needs more training, no, we need to abolish ICE altogether.”

In another instance, Rogelio Martinez, a candidate for mayor of Long Beach, California, called on local gangs to join forces to combat ICE. “I am calling all 55 gangs in my beautiful city… I’m calling the Latino gangs, I’m calling the Cambodian gangs, I’m calling the Filipino gangs, I’m calling the black gangs, I’m calling the Pacific Islander gangs, I’m calling all gang leaders to meet me” at Long Beach City Hall, where Martinez was filming his video call-to-arms, on Monday. “Specifically, I need you to be here, to meet me in person, to take back this city, because our leadership is not doing anything about it and our police are powerless,” he continued. “Enough is enough. ICE needs to get out of Long Beach.”

Conservative investigative reporter and Heritage Foundation Visiting Fellow Robby Starbuck commented, “Democrats are basically doing organized crime.” He referred to the Signal group chats that activists, including some elected Minnesota officials, used to coordinate obstruction of ICE operations in Minneapolis before noting that many of the gangs Martinez was addressing are comprised not only of criminals but illegal immigrants. “All of them belong in prison.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, anti-ICE protests in Long Beach on Friday culminated in violence when left-wing agitators began hurling projectiles at local police, prompting the authorities to respond with tear gas and pepper balls and declare an unlawful assembly. Protests in Los Angeles also deteriorated into rioting, with police arresting eight rioters, including one who was accused of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon.

Thin Blue Line

While Democratic Party officials and “sanctuary” jurisdiction leaders are actively attempting to impede ICE operations, local police are refusing to turn on their federal law enforcement counterparts. Late last year, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law barring federal agents from wearing face masks while on duty. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE agents and other federal law enforcement officials often wear masks to shield their identities and protect themselves against reprisals, with threats and violence against ICE agents and their families skyrocketing since the Trump administration initiated its mass deportation program.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Jim McDonnell announced last week that his officers will not enforce the mask ban. “The reality of one-armed agency approaching another armed agency to create conflict over something that would be a misdemeanor, at best, or an infraction, it doesn’t make any sense,” the LAPD chief said. He referred to the mask ban as “not a good public policy,” charging state lawmakers with failing to think the legislation through.

Similarly, Seattle’s police union is refusing to comply with Mayor Katie Wilson’s (D) latest anti-ICE order. A press release from the self-described socialist mayor’s office directs Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers to “investigate, verify, and document any reports of immigration enforcement activity.” The directive continues, “If dispatched to a location where apparent immigration enforcement activity is underway, officers will document the activity with in-car and body-worn video, validate the status of apparent federal law enforcement agents through official identification, and secure scenes of potentially unlawful acts to gather evidence for transmittal to prosecutors.”

Mike Sloan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), asserted that police officers would not be required to comply with the order. “Toothless virtue signaling rhetoric like this has already cost two people their lives,” Sloan said, in reference to the deaths of Good and Pretti. “The concept of pitting two armed law enforcement agencies against each other is ludicrous and will not happen. I will not allow SPOG members to be used as political pawns.”

SPD Chief Shon Barnes, however, signaled his openness to following Wilson’s directive. “While we have no authority over federal agents or federal policies, we will document incidents if and when notified,” he said in a statement shared by the mayor’s office. “The City of Seattle is a welcoming city, and my officers will continue to abide by all laws and regulations that prohibit our participation in immigration enforcement.”