Minnesota sued the Trump administration on Monday over the “unprecedented” immigration crackdown underway in the state, alleging it violates federal law and the Constitution.
“The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote in a statement on Monday. “People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown…This federal invasion of the Twin Cities has to stop, so today I am suing DHS to bring it to an end.”
The lawsuit comes as the Twin Cities are reeling from an ICE agent fatally shooting Renee Good last week, an incident which has prompted widespread protests.
The complaint, brought on behalf of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, names top officials at the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies ICE and the Border Patrol.
It alleges that the ongoing crackdown in Minnesota, which began in December, is “driven by nothing more than the Trump Administration’s desire to punish political opponents and score partisan points,” and violates First Amendment rights and the Tenth Amendment’s separation of certain state and federal powers.
The attorney general’s lawsuit is asking a Minnesota federal court to end the surge and declare it unlawful and unconstitutional.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Independent in a statement that Ellison’s lawsuit shows he is “prioritizing politics over public safety,” and accused Minnesota officials of being hypocrites for suing to protect the proper division of federal powers while “don’t want federal law enforcement officers to enforce federal law.”
“Sanctuary politicians like Ellison are the EXACT reason that DHS surged to Minnesota in the first place,” McLaughlin wrote. “If he, [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, or [Minneapolis Mayor] Jacob Frey had just done their sworn duty to protect the people of Minnesota they are supposed to serve to root out fraud and get criminals off the street — if they had worked with us to do it — we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
The lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of using the president’s incorrect belief he won the state in the last three presidential elections, as well as an ongoing fraud scandal in Minnesota, as a pretext to launch an operation that has resulted in alleged racial profiling, warrantless entries, and violent treatment of people legally observing and protesting the DHS operation.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.
