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Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the Trump administration Monday, seeking to block a massive federal immigration enforcement surge they say has flooded the Twin Cities with armed agents, sparked fear and unrest, and interfered with state and local authorities, according to court filings.
The lawsuit names Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, top officials with DHS, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, along with the federal agencies themselves.
“We’re here to announce a lawsuit we’re filing against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to end the unlawful, unprecedented surge of the federal law enforcement agents into Minnesota,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said during a news conference Monday. “We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law.”
Ellison said the deployment of thousands of armed and masked DHS agents to Minnesota has done “serious harm” to the state, calling for what he described as a “federal invasion” of the Twin Cities and Minnesota to stop.
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The plaintiffs accuse federal immigration agents of carrying out militarized raids across the Twin Cities, including stops at schools and hospitals, engaging in racial profiling, warrantless arrests and excessive force, and overwhelming local law enforcement, while claiming the operation was politically motivated retaliation rather than legitimate immigration enforcement.
“DHS agents have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan area,” Ellison said. “Schools have gone [into] lockdown. Entire districts have had to cancel school for tens of thousands of students to ensure safety and offer online education.”
“Local businesses are struggling,” he added. “Revenues are down, and some retail stores, daycares and restaurants have actually closed because people are afraid to go out.”
The lawsuit comes nearly a week after an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense.
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“On January 7, 2026, a DHS agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, leaving her children without a mother and her 6-year-old son without either parent,” Ellison said. “This has to stop… it never should have started.”
Ellison said the scope and scale of the federal operation has strained public safety resources and disrupted daily life across the Twin Cities.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the enforcement surge goes far beyond traditional immigration operations and has made communities less safe.
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“What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement,” Frey said. “The scale is wildly disproportionate, and it has nothing to do with keeping people safe.”
The Trump administration pushed back sharply against the lawsuit, with DHS accusing Minnesota leaders of undermining public safety and obstructing federal law enforcement.
“Keith Ellison made it abundantly clear today he is prioritizing politics over public safety,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “It really is astounding that the Left can miraculously rediscover the Tenth Amendment when they don’t want federal law enforcement officers to enforce federal law – which is a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II and the Supremacy Clause – and then go right back to federalizing every state responsibility possible when they get back in power. Spare us.”
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“Sanctuary politicians like Ellison are the exact reason that DHS surged to Minnesota in the first place,” McLaughlin continued. “If he, Tim Walz, or 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.”
McLaughlin cited multiple examples of criminal illegal aliens she said Minnesota leaders are protecting, including individuals convicted of rape, child sexual assault, kidnapping, homicide and other violent crimes, some with final orders of removal dating back decades.
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Among them, she highlighted a man from Laos who she said was convicted of strongarm sodomy of a boy, strongarm sodomy of a girl, aggravated sex offenses, multiple counts of larceny and fraud, burglary, drug possession and obstruction of justice, and who received a final order of removal in March 2018.
McLaughlin said other examples included criminal illegal aliens from Laos, Guatemala, Somalia, Sudan, Burma and Sierra Leone, with convictions ranging from sexual assault and homicide to DUI-related deaths, and final orders of removal dating as far back as August 1996.
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