Ruling follows arrests under DHS ‘re-vetting’ operation of more than 100 refugees who had been lawfully resettled
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from detaining refugees in Minnesota, following a spate of arrests in the state.
More than 100 refugees who had lawfully resettled in the state had been arrested in recent weeks, according to attorneys and advocacy groups. Some were flown to detention centers in Texas, according to attorneys representing the cases, and then were abruptly released – and left to find and pay their own way back home.
On Wednesday, US district judge John R Tunheim ordered the administration to temporarily halt the arrest and detention of lawfully resettled refugees, while a lawsuit about the administration’s policy of “re-vetting” this population continued. The judge mandated the immediate release of all detained refugees in Minnesota and the release of those taken to Texas within five days.
The ruling came after lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of refugees after the Trump administration announced its “Operation Parris” earlier this month, which it described as “a sweeping initiative re-examining thousands of refugee cases through new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims”.
