Minnesota files lawsuit to stop ice ‘invasion’

The state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul on Monday filed a sweeping federal lawsuit to stop what they called an “unprecedented and illegal action.” Increase the number of US federal agents in the Twin Cities, arguing that the publication amounts to a constitutional violation and a direct threat to public safety.

the 80 page complaintThe lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Minnesota, targets the US Department of Homeland Security and senior federal officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. It asks a judge to immediately block what the federal government calls “Operation Metro Surge,” a large-scale immigration operation that prosecutors 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, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop.” Department of Homeland Security agents are accused of sowing “chaos and terror” throughout the metro area through warrantless arrests, excessive force, and enforcement actions at schools, churches, hospitals and other sensitive locations.

The increase has led to school closures and closings, hurt local businesses and diverted police resources away from routine public safety work, Ellison said. He cited more than 20 ICE-related incidents, including reports of masked agents pulling people into unmarked vehicles and leaving the vehicles abandoned on the streets, calling it “an illegal seizure of police resources.”

The lawsuit also points out the latest Deadly shooting Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Goodbye Ice agent As a turning point, fear and unrest increased. The murder, along with subsequent federal rhetoric, left families and entire communities feeling unsafe in public, Ellison said.

Jade, 37, is a wife and mother of three children. She was shot and killed by an ICE officer during an enforcement operation in Minneapolis on January 7. The FBI has 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.

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

When asked by a reporter from PBS Frontline who said his crew was pepper-sprayed by federal agents earlier in the day whether the lawsuit seeks to limit the use of crowd control weapons, Ellison urged journalists to file complaints. “Part of our case is protecting the First Amendment,” he said. “The press is protected by the First Amendment, and it is vitally important at this moment.”

In a Separate suit On Monday, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and top federal officials, accusing the Trump administration of unleashing a militarized immigration operation that “spread for months across Chicago and surrounding areas, illegally stopping, interrogating, and detaining residents, and attacking them with chemical weapons.”