The kingdom of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Monday filed a federal lawsuit to stop what they call an unprecedented and illegal increase in US agents in the Twin Cities, arguing that the deployment is unconstitutional and a direct threat to public safety.
The 80-page complaint, filed in the US district court in Minnesota, targets the US Department of Homeland Security and senior government officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. It’s asking a judge to immediately block what the federal government calls “Operation Metro Surge,” a massive immigration operation that plaintiffs say sent thousands of armed, masked agents into Minnesota communities far from the border, local infrastructure and law enforcement.
At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the lawsuit was intended to stop what he described as an illegal federal government expansion. “This is, in essence, a federal attack on the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop.” He accused DHS agents of sowing “chaos and fear” in the metro area through warrantless arrests, excessive use of force, and enforcement actions in schools, churches, hospitals and other sensitive areas.
Ellison said the operation forced school closures and closures, hurt local businesses, and diverted police resources from normal public safety work. He cited more than 20 ICE-related incidents, including reports of people being pulled over in unmarked vehicles by masked agents and vehicles left on the street, which he called “illegal management of police resources.”
The lawsuit also points to the recent shooting death of Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent as a turning point that fueled the fear and unrest. Ellison said the killings, and the rhetoric that followed, had left families and entire communities feeling unsafe in public spaces.
Good, 37, was a wife and mother of three children. He was shot and killed by an ICE officer during a law enforcement raid in Minneapolis on January 7. The FBI assumed sole jurisdiction over the investigation, effectively preventing Minnesota authorities from accessing evidence or participating in the investigation, a move state officials say undermines the transparency and integrity of law enforcement in the eyes of the public.
The plaintiffs argue that the state’s action violates the Tenth Amendment, federal administrative law, and long statutes of limitations on immigration enforcement. They also accused the Trump administration of “retaliatory conduct based on Minnesota’s legitimate exercise of its autonomy.”
When asked by a PBS Frontline reporter, who said his staff was sprayed by the organization’s management earlier in the day, if the lawsuit seeks to prevent the use of weapons that control people, Ellison urged the reporters to file complaints. “Part of that is our case about First Amendment protections,” he said. “The press is protected by the First Amendment, and it’s very important at this moment.”
In another lawsuit Monday, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago sued DHS and top federal officials, accusing the Trump administration of unleashing an immigration crackdown that “has raged for months in and around Chicago, illegally stopping, searching, and arresting citizens, and attacking them with chemical weapons.”
