The Minnesota Attorney General's Office has issued a formal legal opinion stating that state and local law enforcement agencies in Minnesota are prohibited from holding individuals based on immigration detainers if those individuals would otherwise be released from custody. This decision was made following a request from Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who sought clarification on whether counties could lawfully detain people on immigration detainers issued by federal authorities.
The opinion highlights that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers are requests rather than commands, as specified by federal regulations and recognized by courts nationwide. The Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from compelling state and local officials to enforce federal programs.
The opinion further explores whether continued detention based on an immigration detainer constitutes an "arrest" under the U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions, concluding it does meet this definition. It asserts that immigration detainers are civil matters and do not authorize Minnesota officials to hold someone solely on this basis. Federal law also does not grant such authority.
In support of this stance, an unpublished 2019 opinion by the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed an injunction against Nobles County for holding people due to immigration detainers.
Under both the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, section 10 of the Minnesota Constitution, people are protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that jailers or prison superintendents can be held liable for false imprisonment if they detain someone beyond their sentence expiration.
Given no state civil law permits arrests based on immigration detainers, Minnesota law enforcement agencies face significant civil liability risks if they choose to enforce these detainers.
The full opinion is available on the Attorney General's website.