Minnesota sues Trump administration over immigration crackdown 

Minnesota and its Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St Paul, have launched legal action against the United States President Donald Trump administration to stop a hardline immigration enforcement crackdown.

Local officials have called the government operation a “federal invasion”, which also led to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shooting a Minneapolis mother of three, Renee Nicole Good.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday alongside a request for a temporary restraining order, as reports emerged that an additional 1,000 Border Patrol officers are being dispatched to join the 2,000 immigration agents already operating across the state.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has characterised the deployment as its largest enforcement operation in history.

State Attorney General Keith Ellison accused federal authorities of constitutional violations during a news conference announcing the legal challenge.

“This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop,” he said. “These poorly trained, aggressive and armed agents of the federal state have terrorised Minnesota with widespread unlawful conduct.”

The lawsuit alleges that DHS has deployed excessive and lethal force, conducted warrantless arrests, and targeted courts, churches, and schools.

Ellison said local police have been forced to respond to 20 instances of what he described as the apparent abduction of Minneapolis residents by ICE agents.

The enforcement surge has prompted mass protests following the shooting death of Good on January 7.

The 37-year-old mother of three was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross during a brief encounter while she sat behind the wheel of her vehicle. The incident has thrust Minneapolis into the international spotlight, with conflicting interpretations of the 40-second confrontation dividing officials and activists.

Trump administration officials have been accused of blatantly lying about the shooting events and appear to be clearly contradicted by video analysis.

Social media has been flooded in recent weeks with dozens of videos showing federal agents interrogating members of the Somali community and demanding proof of citizenship, amplifying fears among residents.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the operation has been carried out “indiscriminately” and showed a lack of knowledge of the status of the city’s population.

“I think the initial impetus to come to Minnesota, was go to Minnesota, arrest and deport a bunch of Somali people,” Frey said at a news conference last week.

“And then they get here and they realize that the Somali people who would be arrested or deported are all legal. They’re all US citizens.”

Speaking on Monday, Frey outlined the devastating effect on daily life across the Twin Cities.

“The damage that we are suffering right now … it’s schools shutting down, it’s businesses closing, it’s people being afraid to go out and get groceries and therefore are going hungry,” he said. “This is intentionally putting us in a very difficult position that is not pro-business and is not pro-safety.

“If this were about fraud, then you’d see an invasion perhaps of accountants. But that’s not what you see. What you see is people being indiscriminately taken off our streets,” he said.

St Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Hmong American immigrant, revealed she now carries her passport and identification documents everywhere. “Because I don’t know when I’m going to be detained,” she said. “We are being attacked as American citizens right now.”

On Monday evening, hundreds assembled at a strip mall parking area in St Cloud, northwest of Minneapolis, after word spread that more than two dozen ICE officers had gathered near Somali-owned businesses.

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar described the situation as “a dangerous time” and called the government’s actions “unconscionable”.

Ellison said Minnesota’s non-citizen immigrant population stands at just 1.5 percent, half the national average and lower than Utah, Texas, and Florida, suggesting the state has been targeted for political reasons.

“Donald Trump doesn’t seem to like our state very much,” he said.

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, a legal advocacy organisation for migrants, said the federal operation that began more than a month ago was happening under what it termed “the racist pretense of fraud investigations targeting the Somali community”.

DHS has defended the operation, with Secretary Kristi Noem telling Fox News on Sunday that additional officers would ensure agents “do so safely” amid ongoing protests.

More than 2,000 arrests have been made since December.