(NewsNation) — Minnesota is suing the Department of Homeland Security to stop the surge of immigration officers being sent to the state, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Monday.
The lawsuit comes as the Department of Homeland Security is preparing to send 1,000 additional immigration officers to Minnesota, with hundreds expected to be deployed as soon as Monday, sources told NewsNation.
“We believe the Trump administration is targeting Minnesota because of our political views,” Ellison said, calling the lawsuit a First Amendment issue.
The state is filing a temporary restraining order and asking for immediate relief in court on Tuesday, officials said.
Ellison said the targeting of Minnesota is unconstitutional and a violation of federal law that has caused harm to the state. The lawsuit asks the court to end the surge of agents to the state.
“The deployment of thousands of masked agents to Minnesota has done our state harm,” he said.
Ellison noted the impact on schools and local businesses amid the surge, along with the impact on local law enforcement, who have had to deal with the aftermath of ICE operations rather than focus on other public safety concerns.
“When asked to present a warrant, which is required by law, they say we don’t need one,” Ellison said of the conduct of federal agents.
He pushed back on the Trump administration’s statements that deportations are targeting the worst of the worst, saying many of those arrested are not dangerous criminals. Ellison also pushed back on the idea that agents are there to help investigate fraud, noting that the state would accept the help of forensic accountants when it comes to combating fraud.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey joined Ellison to announce the lawsuit.
“What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement,” he said.
Frey pointed to videos he says show as many as 50 agents arresting one person, in what he called a disproportionate action. He pushed back on the administration’s justification for the agents, including public safety and fraud.
“If this were about fraud, you’d see perhaps an invasion of accountants,” Frey said.
In terms of fraud investigations, Ellison noted the fraud unit of his office was continuing to work on fraud investigations, acknowledging there is resource pressure, but said his office can “walk and chew gum” and is continuing fraud investigations along with fighting DHS actions.
Ellison and Frey called the actions political, noted that there are higher populations of people without documents in other states, including Florida, Texas and Utah, where there have not been similar actions.
“We will not stand idly by and let this happen,” said St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her. “We are fighting back in every way we can.”
She joined Ellison and Frey in condemning the actions and decrying the damage being done to Minnesota communities.
Noem rebukes Minnesota lawsuit
In a statement to X, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem rejected accusations by Minnesota’s Democratic leaders.
“For years, these corrupt, activist politicians have refused to protect Minnesotans and are now proposing illegal actions to keep their stranglehold on control and continue stealing from American citizens,” Noem wrote.
“We will root out this rampant fraud, we will arrest the criminal illegal aliens hurting Americans with impunity, and we will hold those who aid and abetted this criminality accountable.”
DHS has surged thousands of agents to Minnesota
There are already 2,000 agents in the North Star State responding to protests after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, a motorist who federal officials claim was trying to run over law enforcement.
But people contesting that narrative have taken to the streets in Minnesota — and across the nation. Lawmakers in Minnesota maintain Good was simply trying to leave the scene when Ross fatally shot her.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, barred from working alongside the FBI or accessing its evidence, was spotted at the scene of the shooting on Monday.
Local officials are helping “with the collection, cataloging and preservation of video or other evidence” related to the shooting, a bureau spokesperson said.
“What you are witnessing is part of that process and nothing more. The BCA is not conducting its own investigation,” the spokesperson continued.
Residents report ICE encounters on the street
Christian Molina told NewsNation he was taking his car to the mechanic when ICE hit his car to stop him.
“I took a left, and they turned the siren on, but I kept on going,” he said. “I took another left, and that’s when they hit my car.”
Molina, a U.S. citizen, said it didn’t feel safe in Minneapolis.
“They didn’t even run my plates. They saw me going back to the side, and they started chasing me for no reason,” he said. “That’s like an abuse of power. They can just pull up on anybody?”
After he was stopped, Molina said the officers ran his plates and released him.
Arrests ramp up as ICE presence interferes with schools
As of Monday, DHS has made more than 2,000 arrests since its “Operation Metro Surge” began in Minnesota. That’s up from 1,500 arrests three days prior, DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
Increased ICE presence has led to canceled classes and remote learning options, and Education Minnesota, a union representing K-12 teachers, has demanded that enforcement take place far away from schools.
At Roosevelt High School on Monday, roughly 700 of the 1,400 students participated in a walkout.
“Yesterday’s actions by ICE in Minnesota — including the shooting of a community member, the unjust detention of a Minnesota educator, and the use of pepper spray on students — are unconscionable in a civil society,” union president Monica Byron said last week.
Renee Good’s death sparks continued protests across US
The fallout from Good’s shooting death has expanded from Minnesota to other U.S. metros, with more than 1,000 protests in small towns and big cities over the weekend. One hotbed for demonstration — Portland, Oregon — is still reeling from its own shooting by federal agents.
A day after Good’s death, federal border agents shot and wounded a man and a woman in Portland during a traffic stop. The federal government said the pair were linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, but protesters have challenged those claims and the agents’ use of force.
In Minnesota on Sunday, officers deployed several rounds of flash bangs, pepper spray bullets and tear gas canisters into a crowd of protesters after giving a final warning to disperse.
“We just got pepper-sprayed. I can feel it in the back of my throat. I know we’re saying bad words and we’re screaming insults, but we’re not here to fight, we’re not here to throw hands, we’re not here to shoot people like they are,” protester Caroline Wilson told NewsNation.
Law enforcement arrested multiple people in Minneapolis over the weekend as protesters called for ICE to leave the city.
ICE ‘never about safety’: Walz
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticized ICE operations in his state following the announcement of the lawsuit against DHS.
“Over the last week, we’ve seen federal agents arresting, threatening, and using force against innocent bystanders,” he said, via X.
“They have carried out enforcement actions in schools, at hospitals, and in one horrific instance, shot and killed someone.
“Today, @AGEllison announced a lawsuit to end ICE’s aggressive and unconstitutional surge into Minnesota. This operation was never about safety, it’s a targeted political operation and Minnesota won’t stand for it.”