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https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/05/minnesota-prosecutor-ice-sidelining-priorities-00766733
The top federal prosecutor in Minnesota says his short-staffed office has been abandoning “pressing and important priorities” to manage the flood of immigration cases stemming from Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s mass deportation push in the Twin Cities.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, in a little-noticed filing last week with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, said his office is buckling under the crushing weight of hundreds of emergency lawsuits filed by immigrants arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks. He said 427 had been filed in January alone, and that the pace is expected to continue into February.
“To respond to this wave of habeas petitions, this Office has been forced to shift its already limited resources from other pressing and important priorities,” Rosen said in a declaration to the court. “The MN-USAO has cancelled all [civil enforcement] work and any other affirmative priorities and is operating in a reactive mode.”
In a filing accompanying Rosen’s statement, Justice Department attorneys emphasized that the “crushing burden” caused by immigration cases had led U.S. attorneys offices to “shift resources away from other critical priorities, including criminal matters.”
Rosen, a Trump appointee confirmed by the Senate in October 2025, said his team of attorneys handling civil litigation is “down 50%” — a reference to a wave of resignations and departures at the start of Operation Metro Surge — and that those who remain “are appearing daily for hearings on contempt motions.”
The top federal prosecutor in Minnesota says his short-staffed office has been abandoning “pressing and important priorities” to manage the flood of immigration cases stemming from Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s mass deportation push in the Twin Cities.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, in a little-noticed filing last week with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, said his office is buckling under the crushing weight of hundreds of emergency lawsuits filed by immigrants arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks. He said 427 had been filed in January alone, and that the pace is expected to continue into February.
“To respond to this wave of habeas petitions, this Office has been forced to shift its already limited resources from other pressing and important priorities,” Rosen said in a declaration to the court. “The MN-USAO has cancelled all [civil enforcement] work and any other affirmative priorities and is operating in a reactive mode.”
In a filing accompanying Rosen’s statement, Justice Department attorneys emphasized that the “crushing burden” caused by immigration cases had led U.S. attorneys offices to “shift resources away from other critical priorities, including criminal matters.”
Rosen, a Trump appointee confirmed by the Senate in October 2025, said his team of attorneys handling civil litigation is “down 50%” — a reference to a wave of resignations and departures at the start of Operation Metro Surge — and that those who remain “are appearing daily for hearings on contempt motions.”
