Minnesota and city officials sue Trump administration over ICE deployment

The state of Minnesota and cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing to stop a “federal invasion” of the Twin Cities by immigration enforcement officials whose operation has killed one woman and sparked mass protests.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the lawsuit in a news conference Jan. 12 with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Koahly Her. The three are hoping for federal courts to put an end to Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s immigration deployment in Minnesota.

“Thousands of armed and masked [Department of Homeland Security] agents have stormed the Twin Cities to conduct militarized raids and carry out dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional stops and arrests in sensitive public places, including schools and hospitals — all under the guise of lawful immigration enforcement," the lawsuit says.

Ellison said at the news conference that the surge of “poorly-trained, aggressive and armed” ICE officers does not aid in public safety and has not targeted undocumented individuals with criminal histories — but rather racially profiled residents and “sown chaos and terror.”

“The deployment of thousands of armed, masked DHS agents to Minnesota has done our state serious harm,” Ellison said. “This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities, and it must stop.”

President Donald Trump’s administration began Operation Metro Surge in December, reportedly sending 2,000 agents to the Twin Cities. That exceeds the number of police officers in Minneapolis and St. Paul combined.

Since ramping up its presence in Minnesota, ICE has, according to the lawsuit, stopped residents based on racial profiling, detained lawful observers and stretched the resources of local law enforcement who have responded to scenes of chaos and unrest.

U.S. Border Patrol agents clashed with protesters at Roosevelt High School, and agents have detained individuals in stops across the Twin Cities. Tribal leaders said ICE has also detained Native Americans. Oglala Sioux attorneys were trying to locate the individuals and secure their release.

“What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement,” Frey said. “We are not asking ICE not to do ICE things. We are asking this federal government to stop the unconstitutional conduct that is invading our streets each and every day.”

Her, whose family arrived from Laos half a century ago, said the “federal occupation of our cities needs to end immediately.” She said she carries her passport card everywhere now.

“Federal law enforcement is racially profiling our residents, creating mass chaos,” Her said. “They are endangering our community’s safety, straining our resources and sowing distrust.”

Republican leaders in the Minnesota House criticized the lawsuit, saying Minnesota residents “deserve leaders that allow the removal of violence criminals, not ones that demand they remain in our communities.”

Ellison said in the news conference that the lawsuit was targeting the surge and behavior out of the realm of normal immigration enforcement, noting the state had not challenged ICE’s presence until Operation Metro Surge.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, the state and Twin Cities argue the Trump administration is attempting to “punish political opponents” and that the tactics “appear designed to provoke community outrage.”

The petition outlines several instances in which ICE stopped individuals based on racial profiling. According to the lawsuit, immigration agents approached four Minneapolis Public Works employees and asked the three nonwhite employees for identification and about their citizenship and place of birth. The fourth employee, who is white, was not asked for identification.

On Jan. 7, the lawsuit says, an attorney for the state witnessed an immigration arrest unfolding and approached the scene to act as a witness. Though she stood at a safe distance and identified herself as an attorney, according to the lawsuit, a DHS agent “jumped out of his vehicle [and] unloaded entire canisters of pepper spray on her at point blank range.”

Minnesota and the cities’ lawsuit claims the Trump administration has violated the First Amendment and targeted Minnesota based on the political speech of the state’s Democratic politicians.

Minneapolis has had to pay more than $2 million in overtime in just a few days as local law enforcement responds to incidents connected to ICE operations, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit says it amounts to an “unlawful attempt to commandeer state and local law enforcement to assist federal agents in carrying out federal immigration laws.”