A federal judge in Minnesota will consider Monday whether to halt the deployment of thousands of immigration agents to the state, after the killings of two US citizens sparked uproar.
Minneapolis has been rocked by increasingly tense protests since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her car, on January 7.
On Saturday, ICE agents killed intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, also 37, claiming he intended to harm them during a confrontation.
Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed for weeks to the state, after media reports on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants — which US President Donald Trump has seized upon.
The US District Court for Minnesota will hold hearings in two key lawsuits Monday, as pressure mounts for an independent investigation into the killings.
In one case, Minnesota’s attorney general has asked a federal judge to halt the surge of ICE agents to the area.
The other case focuses on stopping federal officials from destroying evidence related to Pretti’s killing.
The lawsuits highlight the deep rift between local and federal officials over the ICE deployment, which has put pressure on Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign.
Democratic-led Minneapolis is a sanctuary city, meaning police do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Trump, who has vowed to arrest and deport “millions” of undocumented people, quickly defended the ICE agents who fired the shots that killed Good and Pretti, claiming they had intended to harm federal agents.
But he later declined to say whether the officer who shot Pretti had acted appropriately and said his administration was reviewing the incident.
“We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal in a brief interview on Sunday.
He said ICE agents would leave Minneapolis “at some point”, without giving a timeframe.
