U.H.A et al. v. Bondi et al.

Update: On February 19, 2026, United States District Judge John R. Tunheim previously issued a temporary restraining order on Jan. 28 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, banning them from arresting more refugees in Minnesota and requiring the government to release any refugees currently in custody. That restraining order is set to lapse on Feb. 25. 

E. Michelle Drake, Executive Shareholder at the firm Berger Montague, which is challenging the policy along with the Advocates for Human Rights, argued that the federal government’s actions were a “major deviation” from past practices. 

“These are warrantless, surprise arrests of law-abiding individuals who were approved before entering this country,” Drake said. “This is exactly what the Fourth Amendment was concerned about.” 

Update: On January 29, 2026 a noncompliance filing was made to the court. “The same way that the policy is unlawful to begin with, their failure and refusal to comply with the court’s order is also unlawful,” said Executive Shareholder E. Michelle Drake. “This is a government-created crisis,” said Jordan Hughes, an associate in Berger Montague’sMinneapolis office who helped secure a temporary restraining order blocking ICE from arresting ordetaining any refugee class member who has not been adjusted to lawful permanent residentstatus. “I am grateful and proud of the federal bench in Minnesota and the way they stepped up to theplate here,” Hughes said Friday in a telephone interview with Law.com and the National LawJournal. “These judges are meeting the moment,” said Hughes.

Update: On January 28, 2026 a federal judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) preventing the Trump administration from arresting and detaining lawfully resettled refugees in Minnesota under Operation PARRIS while the case challenging the practice proceeds. The judge also ordered the immediate release of all detained refugees in Minnesota and the release of those taken to Texas within five days. The TRO was granted as part of a class action lawsuit filed by a group of refugees represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Berger Montague, and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL). The Advocates for Human Rights, a non-profit providing on-the-ground legal representation to impacted refugees in Minnesota, is an organizational plaintiff.

On January 24, 2026 group of refugees represented by Berger Montague, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP),  and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the illegal arrest and imprisonment of resettled refugees in Minnesota. Individual plaintiffs are lawfully resettled refugees who are not yet legal permanent residents. Many did apply for their green cards, but have been unable to receive them due to the Trump administration’s suspension of processing for refugees’ applications and long-standing processing delays. The Advocates for Human Rights, a non-profit providing on-the-ground legal representation to impacted refugees in Minnesota, is an organizational plaintiff. 

Since the announcement of Operation PARRIS on January 9, armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are going door to door arresting members of the Minnesota refugee community, including children and the elderly, and spiriting them off to detention camps in Texas. Refugees who assert their legal right to refuse ICE entry into their homes without a judicial warrant are then receiving letters calling them to appear at a local ICE office, where they are immediately detained without explanation, probable cause, or due process. Others have had their cars followed or been picked up on their way to work or school, making many refugee community members terrified to even leave the house. 

“I fled my home country because I was facing government repression,” said D. Doe, plaintiff. “I can’t believe it’s happening again here. It’s chilling and I’m scared.”

Once jailed in Texas, refugees are frequently put through intensive questioning without adequate opportunity to prepare or consult with a lawyer. Many have been forced to answer the same questions they were already asked when they initially proved to the U.S. government they were refugees or on their green card applications, this time without the opportunity to review the paperwork they may have submitted months or years ago. Those ICE has released were left on the streets of Texas, usually without money, identification, or any way to get home. Other refugees have been forced to stay in detention in Texas for a week or more, with no information about why they are being detained or when they will be released. 

The lawsuit argues that the U.S. government has no legal authority to detain lawfully present refugees without charge, and seeks to halt the U.S. government’s illegal, discriminatory, and cruel practice of warrantless arrest, unauthorized detention, and coercive interrogation.

Read more about the case here:

• Trump Admin Can’t ‘Terrorize’ Minn. Refugees, Judge Rules, Law360 (February 27, 2026). Read more here.
• Trump administration broadens ICE powers to detain refugees, The Hill (February 19, 2026). Read more here.
• Immigration advocates challenge federal refugee policy in court, MPR (February 20, 2026). Read more here.
• New Trump administration order could lead to the detention of thousands of legal refugees, AP (February 19, 2026). Read more here.
• Minn. Court Weighs Civil Liberties In Refugee Detention Case, Law360 (February 20, 2026). Read more here.
• Minn. Judge Won’t End TRO Over DHS Refugee Detentions, Law360 (February 10, 2026). Read more here.
• Minn. Judge Skeptical Of Widespread Refugee Detention, Law360 (February 4, 2026). Read more here.
• Minnesota’s Chief US District Judge Rebukes ICE Over Habeas ‘Noncompliance’, National Law Journal (January 30, 2026). Read more here.
• Lawyer: DHS not complying with order to release detained refugees from Minnesota, MPR News (January 29, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge Orders Release of Minnesota Refugees Targeted in ICE Crackdown, The New York Times (January 29, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge Temporarily Bars Trump Administration from Detaining Minnesota Refugees, The Wall Street Journal (January 29, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge: Homeland Security must release detained refugees, KARE 11 (January 29, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge blocks Trump officials from detaining refugees in Minnesota, The Guardian (January 29, 2026). Read more here.
• Minnesota Federal Judge Blocks ICE Plan to Detain Refugees, Bloomberg Law (January 29, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge Orders Release of Minnesota Refugees Targeted in ICE Crackdown, The New York Times (January 28, 2026). Read more here.
• Minnesota court rules DHS must release detained refugees under Operation PARRIS, ABC 5 (January 28, 2026). Read more here.
• ICE is ‘hunting down’ Minnesota refugees with legal status in sweeping operation, lawsuit claims, The Independent (January 27, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge lays groundwork for possible halting of ‘Operation PARRIS’, KARE 11 (January 27, 2026). Read more here.
• They ‘Had Done Everything Right.’ ICE Detained Them Anyway, The New York Times (January 26, 2026). Read more here.
• Minn. Refugees Sue Trump Admin. Over ‘Warrantless’ Arrests, Law360 (January 26, 2026). Read more here.
• Judge lays groundwork for possible halting of “Operation PARRIS”, KARE 11 (January 26, 2026). Read more here.
• Refugees Sue Trump Administration to Stop ICE Terror Campaign, Berger Montague (January 24, 2026). Read more here.
• Operation PARRIS underway in Minnesota, KARE 11 (January 16, 2026). Read more here.
• Class action lawsuit filed against federal operation targeting Minnesota’s legal refugees, Star Tribune (January 25, 2026). Read more here.

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in the fields of complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played leading roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, D.C., and Wilmington, DE.