Minnesota Sues to Stop ICE ‘Invasion’

The State of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul filed a sweeping federal lawsuit Monday to end what they call an illegal and unprecedented situation. influx of US federal agents in the Twin Cities, arguing that the deployment amounts to a violation of the Constitution and a direct threat to public safety.

THE 80-page complaintfiled in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, targets the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and senior federal officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. It’s asking a judge to immediately block what the federal government calls “Operation Metro Surge,” a large-scale immigration operation that the plaintiffs say sent thousands of armed and masked federal agents into Minnesota communities far from the border, overwhelming local infrastructure and law enforcement.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the lawsuit aims to stop what he described as an illegal federal escalation. “This is essentially a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop. » He accused DHS agents of sowing “chaos and terror” in the metropolitan area through warrantless arrests, excessive force and coercive measures in schools, churches, hospitals and other sensitive locations.

Ellison said the increase has forced school closures and lockdowns, hurt local businesses and diverted police resources from routine public safety work. He cited more than 20 ICE-related incidents, including reports of people being dragged into unmarked vehicles by masked agents and vehicles abandoned on the streets, calling it an “unlawful requisition of police resources.”

The lawsuit also highlights the recent fatal shot by Renee Nicole, Minneapolis resident. an ICE agent as a turning point that intensified fear and unrest. Ellison said the killing, along with the federal rhetoric that followed, left families and entire communities feeling unsafe in public spaces.

Good, 37, was a wife and mother of three. She was fatally shot by an ICE agent during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis on January 7. The FBI assumed sole jurisdiction over the investigation, barring Minnesota authorities from accessing evidence or participating in the investigation, a move that state officials say undermines the transparency and integrity of law enforcement in the public eye.

The plaintiffs argue that the federal operation violates the Tenth Amendment, federal administrative law and long-standing limitations on immigration enforcement. They also accuse the Trump administration of “retaliatory conduct based on Minnesota’s lawful exercise of its sovereign authority.”

Asked by a PBS Frontline reporter, who said his team was pepper-sprayed by federal agents earlier in the day, whether the litigation was aimed at curbing the use of crowd control weapons, Ellison urged journalists to file charges. “Part of our argument is about protecting the First Amendment,” he said. “The press is protected by the First Amendment, and it is vitally important right now.”

In a separate trial On Monday, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago sued DHS and top federal officials, accusing the Trump administration of unleashing a militarized immigration operation that “ravaged Chicago and its surrounding areas for months, illegally stopping, interrogating and arresting residents and attacking them with chemical weapons.”