The Trump administration has arrested or questioned dozens of refugees in Minnesota, with more detentions likely nationwide, according to attorneys and advocates. In response, a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to the arrest and detention of refugees in Minnesota and extended the order, calling the policy a 'dystopian nightmare'. Judge Tunheim issued the ruling on February 27, 2025, forbidding the federal government from arresting and detaining Minnesota refugees who have no grounds for removal and are awaiting their green cards. The government argued in a February 18 memo that it could indefinitely detain any refugees in the US who have not yet received green cards. The government has not yet appealed the judge's ruling.
A group of refugees in other states filed a lawsuit to block new DHS policies that could lead to detention of tens of thousands of refugees, according to multiple reports. Refugee advocates have said tens of thousands of refugees could face arrest nationally. One refugee, identified as D. Doe, was arrested at his home on January 11, 2026, after being tricked by a man who claimed to have hit his car, according to research.
Overall immigration enforcement has shown mixed trends. Emergency lawsuits from immigrants seeking release from detention have declined in recent weeks as the Trump administration pulled back slightly from aggressive immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, according to multiple reports. The administration announced in February it was drawing down its Minnesota operation and moved to oust Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Nationwide immigration arrests in February were about 11 percent fewer than previous months but still nearly four times higher than under Biden, according to a New York Times analysis. Federal prosecutors launched 32,000 new immigration-related cases, nearly triple the amount under Biden, according to a ProPublica analysis.
The Trump administration reinterpreted precedent to claim arrested immigrants are not eligible for bond, even those without criminal records, according to multiple reports. The administration also instructed ICE officers to cut back on arrests inside courthouses and to no longer enter homes without a warrant, according to two Homeland Security officials. These instructions led to a sharp drop in arrests inside immigration courthouses, according to multiple reports.
The Trump administration is deporting a significant number of parents without asking about their children or allowing them to decide whether to bring their children, in apparent violation of its own policies, according to a report by the Women’s Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights. Immigration judges who were fired or forced out say the Trump administration pressured them to order deportations or risk losing their jobs, according to more than a dozen federal judges. The Justice Department fired the acting head of the immigration court system and three other top officials on Trump's first day in office, according to multiple reports. More than 100 immigration judges have left their posts since Trump took office, according to multiple reports.
In a separate case, a federal judge overturned the Trump administration's ban on gender-affirming care for children, criticizing RFK Jr.'s 'wanton disregard' for the law. The judge barred the administration from implementing similar policies to restrict gender-affirming care nationally by withholding funding, according to multiple reports.
The Trump administration quietly abandoned more than 23,000 criminal cases within the first six months of his presidency, including 11,000 in Bondi's first month, according to a ProPublica analysis. At the same time, federal prosecutors launched 32,000 new immigration-related cases, nearly triple the amount under Biden.
The Trump administration wants to make it easier for farms to hire migrant workers via H-2A visas, angering critics across the political spectrum, according to multiple reports. New emergency rules took effect January 1 allowing farms to hire more workers and pay lower wages for H-2A visa holders, according to multiple reports.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore legal status for tens of thousands of immigrants who used the CBP One app to enter the US legally under Biden. Roughly 985,000 people used the CBP One app to seek legal entry before the Trump administration ended the program, according to multiple reports.
A federal judge ruled that ICE must release a Minneapolis asylum seeker who was unlawfully detained for 50 days, noting he was not properly detained and agents did not have a warrant.