Judge declines bid by districts to temporarily block immigration agents from Minnesota schools

Sarah Nelson, Star Tribune on May 6, 2026

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A judge denied a bid by Minnesota school districts to temporarily block federal agents from carrying out immigration enforcement operations near schools while their lawsuit proceeds.

U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino in a May 6 ruling rejected the districts’ request to reinstate a policy that school leaders claim made their campuses off-limits from federal immigration enforcement. The policy’s repeal, they argued, led to increased immigration agent activity in protected areas, including schools.

In her 38-page ruling, Provinzino wrote that the former Department of Homeland Security policy did not categorically ban ICE agents from schools and allowed agents to conduct operations near protected areas — albeit in limited circumstances.

Restating the policy “would not have the effect of eliminating any threat of immigration enforcement activity at or near schools,” she wrote.

Fridley and Duluth schools, along with the state teachers union, sought to reinstate the federal government’s decades-old policy that designated “protected areas” limiting enforcement in sensitive locations. Lawyers for the districts argued in court that Operation Metro Surge led to lower student attendance over families’ fears of encountering agents. Fridley schools claimed the district had to un-enroll at least 20 students due to extended absences. The districts argued the new federal policy, which took effect last year, resulted in attendance declines and disruptions seen during the surge.

Provinzino said restoring the former policy would not abate the districts’ concerns since it did not inhibit immigration enforcement at schools and bus stops. She also determined the districts’ decreased attendance and loss of enrollment-based funding cannot be easily traced to the new DHS policy rather than “generalized fears of the School Districts’ students and their families about broader immigration enforcement policy changes and activity.”

“What has changed, evidently, is DHS’s willingness — not its authority — to conduct immigration enforcement activity at or near protected areas like schools,” she said.

In a joint statement, the districts said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement directives have “disrupted classrooms, driven families away, and created an environment of fear that no child should have to endure.”

“While the court declined to immediately stop that activity, this is not the end of our fight,” the districts said. “We brought this case because every student deserves access to education in a safe and stable environment, and we will continue fighting to restore those protections and ensure that schools remain places of learning, not fear.”

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