Minnesota's chief justice declined again

Minnesota’s chief justice declined again

By Jeff Day
The Minnesota Star Tribune

(The Minnesota Star Tribune) For the second time in two years, Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson has declined to issue an order setting limits on how federal agents carry out immigration enforcement in and around state courthouses, citing a lack of constitutional authority and potential conflict from being “perceived as taking a stand on a political issue.”

Last month, Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with prosecutors for Hennepin and Ramsey counties and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, urged Hudson to place additional restrictions on federal agents after a series of high-profile detainments at the Hennepin County Government Center as part of Operation Metro Surge.

Those incidents came as the Trump administration altered its tactics to focus more on detaining immigration targets at county courthouses and jails after mass protests engulfed Minneapolis following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis by federal agents.

Hudson said any restrictions on federal immigration enforcement in the public areas of county courthouses fell outside of the judiciary.

“Currently there is no state or federal law conferring direct authority on the [Judicial] Branch to govern the actions of federal law enforcement officers in courthouses,” Hudson wrote in a letter to prosecutors on March 6. “Federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE and Customs and Border Patrol, have broad federal legal authority to conduct operations across this country.”

Minnesota’s chief justice declined again

She added that while she was concerned about disruptions in courthouses, the judiciary could not be seen as stepping into a political debate.

“The issue of immigration enforcement is currently a highly charged political topic in this country,” Hudson wrote. “While the federal courts will resolve most of the legal issues relating to Operation Metro Surge, there is a possibility that state courts will be called on to hear cases as well. Should that happen, the Branch will be better positioned to effectively resolve those cases if the public continues to have confidence that the Branch is fair, impartial, non-partisan, and neutral.”

Hudson’s decision to not provide additional restrictions on federal agents came one month after she met with White House border czar Tom Homan and St. Paul ICE Field Office Director Sam Olson on Feb. 6 to make several requests relating to immigration enforcement in and around state courthouses.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose staff works in the Hennepin County Government Center, said in a statement that she was disappointed in Hudson’s decision to take “no action” to ensure safe access to the courts for victims, witnesses and staff.

“While individual judges can already control their own courtrooms, the aggressive and violent arrests are taking place in other parts of courthouses, such as the skyway level of the Government Center, which is under the purview of the Chief Justice,” Moriarty said. “There is nothing political about protecting our courthouses. Secret promises from the federal government are insufficient to ensure peace of mind for Minnesotans visiting and working at a courthouse.”

In her meeting with Homan and Olson last month, Hudson’s requests included that ICE no longer conduct operations inside Minnesota courthouses, but if agents had to, they would operate in “low-traffic areas” and not inside courtrooms.

Minnesota’s chief justice declined again

In her letter, Hudson provided additional clarity around that meeting. She said Homan and Olson largely agreed to all of her requests and, to her knowledge, “Minnesota is the only state judicial branch to have secured commitments from ICE leadership.”

Four days after securing those commitments, ICE agents conducted a chaotic detainment at the Hennepin County Government Center of 18-year-old Junior de Jesus Herrera Berrios. He was later ordered released from federal custody by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank because the federal government provided no evidence it had a warrant to arrest him.

Hudson wrote that the “news media narrative” about the actions of ICE agents that day — including that they bypassed the public security entrance, went from floor to floor inside the courthouse looking for Herrera Berrios, chased him through the skyway, tackled him in front of a large crowd of lawyers and observers, handcuffed him, took him out of the courthouse and drove him away in an unmarked car — indicated that Homan and Olson had already broken their commitments to Hudson.

But the chief justice wrote that it was more likely the agreements she received from Homan and Olson “simply had not yet been fully communicated to all ICE agents.”

Details of that meeting were not shared publicly until Feb. 20, after the Minnesota Star Tribune requested information from the Judicial Branch. That same day, Hudson emailed her judicial officers and staff, expressing “cautious optimism” over the agreement.

She wrote, “As I have told leadership: actions speak louder than words. We will assess whether practices change as a result of these discussions.”

Minnesota’s chief justice declined again

While Hudson’s most visible role is as the highest-ranking member of the state Supreme Court, she also serves as the administrative head of the judiciary, which has a $919 million budget and employs more than 2,800 people, including 322 judges.

Former Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz said the administrative side of the job can be as demanding as overseeing case work and opinions for the Supreme Court.

When she was appointed chief justice in 1998 after spending slightly over a year on the state Supreme Court, Blatz recalled being told, “Well, congratulations, you just got another full-time job.”

“The chief justice has general supervisory powers over the courts in the state, and it lays out different powers, which includes being the chief representative of the court system and the liaison with other governmental agencies for the public,” Blatz said.

And while she did not want to speak to Hudson’s specific situation, Blatz pointed out that it was one of the rare instances where the administration of the court rose to the public consciousness.

“I do think transparency on the administrative is the way of the court,” Blatz said. “Now, obviously, [this situation] shines a light on the sensitivity about it. I mean you’re not doing stories on the administrative organs of the judicial council all the time.”

This was the second time that Ellison and Moriarty, alongside Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Minneapolis City Attorney Krysten Anderson and St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao, had asked Hudson to restrict immigration enforcement.

Minnesota’s chief justice declined again

They made a similar request in January 2025 at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term when federal agents began appearing at county courthouses seeking to detain immigration enforcement targets showing up for hearings. Hudson declined that request last March.

Their second letter was sent on Feb. 11, and the prosecutors argued that the situation had only gotten more dire amid Operation Metro Surge. They noted that the fear in the community was amplified by the killings of Good and Pretti by federal agents and it was impacting every level of their pursuit of justice.

“A witness who is arrested while waiting to testify cannot fulfill their legal obligation,” they wrote. “A defendant arrested in the hallway before their hearing cannot exercise their right to appear, and a victim is robbed of the opportunity to seek justice. An attorney who cannot safely advise their client in the courthouse cannot provide effective representation. These are not abstract concerns. They are documented realities in Minnesota courts today.”

In both letters, the prosecutors argued that chief justices in other states had used “their inherent authority to protect access to justice” by banning arrests in the public areas of courthouses unless law enforcement had a judicial warrant.

Hudson wrote in her response that ICE operations in Minnesota had only occurred in the “public spaces of county buildings,” not in courtrooms or areas that the judicial branch considers “nonpublic.”