Minnesota, joined by Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration seeking to halt an immigration enforcement operation that has included mass arrests, repeated deployment of tear gas, and the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal officer five days earlier.
State Attorney General Keith Ellison filed the suit against the Department of Homeland Security, alleging violations of the First Amendment and other constitutional protections. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement action or limit the operation.
“This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and it must stop,” Ellison said at a news conference. “These poorly trained, aggressive and armed agents of the federal state have terrorized Minnesota with widespread unlawful conduct.”
The enforcement operation, which ICE has called its largest ever, has drawn protests and vigils across the country since a federal officer fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, while she was behind the wheel of her SUV. The Trump administration has said Good and her vehicle presented a threat; Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and others have disputed that account based on videos of the confrontation. Homeland Security says it has deployed more than 2,000 immigration officers to Minnesota and made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since December.
State and city officials speak out
“They’re targeting us based on what we look and sound like. Our residents are scared. And as local officials, we have a responsibility to act,” said St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who was born in Laos.
The lawsuit accuses the Republican Trump administration of targeting a progressive state that favors Democrats and welcomes immigrants, in violation of free speech protections.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Minnesota officials of ignoring public safety and defended the federal operation.
“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law — no matter who your mayor, governor, or state attorney general is,” McLaughlin said. “That’s what the Trump administration is doing; we have the Constitution on our side on this, and we look forward to proving that in court.”
Students walk out; tear gas deployed at multiple sites
Hundreds of students walked out of Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis on Monday, five days after federal agents deployed tear gas on students and staff there. Adults wearing safety vests cleared traffic, and many parents who are Roosevelt alumni attended in old school wear. Marchers held signs reading “ICE out” and “Welcome to Panem,” a reference to the dystopian society in the “Hunger Games” book series.
Federal agents also deployed tear gas to break up a crowd that gathered a few blocks from where Good was killed, after agents rear-ended a man’s car while questioning him.
“I’m glad they didn’t shoot me or something,” Christian Molina told reporters, standing near his damaged vehicle.
Whistle-burst warnings by activists have become common across the Twin Cities when immigration agents deploy to streets. Witnesses have regularly posted video of federal officers using tear gas to discourage the public from following them.
In St. Cloud, 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis, hundreds of people gathered outside a strip of Somali-run businesses when news spread that dozens of ICE officers had arrived in the area.
Illinois files parallel suit
The federal government also faces a lawsuit over a similar enforcement operation in the Chicago area. More than 4,300 people were arrested last year in what authorities called “Operation Midway Blitz,” in which masked agents swept through the region, according to a lawsuit filed by the city and state of Illinois. That suit says the operation had a chilling effect, making residents afraid to leave home, and seeks restrictions on certain tactics. McLaughlin called it “baseless.”
Federal charges filed in Portland
In Portland, Oregon, federal authorities separately filed charges against a Venezuelan national who was one of two people shot by U.S. Border Patrol on Thursday. The Justice Department said the man used his pickup truck to strike a Border Patrol vehicle and escape the scene with a woman. Both were shot and eventually arrested; their wounds were not life-threatening. The FBI said no video of that incident existed, unlike in the Good shooting.