Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the deployment a “federal invasion of the Twin Cities.”
Officials in Minnesota are suing the federal government to stop the deployment of thousands of immigration agents to Minnesota, the state’s top prosecutor said 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,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference.
Calling the deployment a federal “invasion of the Twin Cities,” he said: “This has to stop.”
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, includes the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as plaintiffs and names officials with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection as defendants.
In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin accused Ellison of”prioritizing politics over public safety” and said he and other “sanctuary politicians” were the reason the department had to surge immigration agents to the state.
“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law — no matter who your mayor, governor, or state attorney general is,” she said.
A White House spokeswoman said in a separate statement, “This pathetic stunt only proves that Democrats will put illegal criminals over hardworking Americans every time.”
Speaking at Monday’s news conference, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey cited the number of police officers in his city — 600 — and called the deployment of thousands of federal immigration officers “wildly disproportionate.”
“At times, there are as many as 50 agents arresting one person,” he said, adding: “We’re feeling the impact here in Minneapolis. Schools have closed. People are afraid to go to work, shop or seek medical care. 911 calls are up. Police resources are indeed stretched thin.”
St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, whose family fled Laos for the United States when she was 3, told reporters that she’s carrying her passport and ID with her at all times.
“I don’t know when I’m going to be detained,” she said.
The complaint was filed one day after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said hundreds more federal officers are heading to the state amid protests over the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer.
Noem said the federal operation in the state is now focused not just on targeting alleged violations of immigration law but also on tackling ICE-related protests.
Noem has described Good, a prize-winning poet, as a terrorist who “weaponized” her vehicle against the ICE officer who fatally shot her in self-defense. Local and state officials have disputed that claim, saying Good, 37, was only trying to leave the scene and calling federal officials’ characterization “propaganda.”
Good was in the driver’s seat of an SUV in a residential part of Minneapolis on Wednesday when she was killed. Video obtained by NBC News that appears to have been recorded by Jonathan Ross, the officer who shot Good, captured Good and her wife talking to the officer in the moments before he opened fire.
Video from eyewitnesses shows officers telling Good to get out of her car before she begins driving away. Multiple gunshots can be heard, and the SUV slams into a parked vehicle.
Officials in Minnesota have criticized federal authorities for barring the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation of Good’s death. Asked about the move last week, Noem accused state investigators of allowing people to harass and incite violence against federal officers.
The Trump administration began ramping up immigration-related arrests in Minnesota in December, after conservative commentators focused on a years-old scandal in which federal prosecutors uncovered a sprawling fraud scheme in the Somali community.
Last week, more than 2,000 officers and agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations were deployed to the city after a right-wing influencer accused several Somali-run day care facilities of fraud. State officials who investigated the allegations said they found no evidence to back up the claims.
Illinois also sued the Trump administration Monday, alleging in a federal lawsuit that immigration agents deployed in the state are using “unlawful and dangerous tactics.”
“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining Constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.
In a statement, a White House spokeswoman said the suit “reads like a far left manifesto” that seeks to “smear law enforcement officers and incite violence against them. Democrat politicians must stop siding with criminal illegal aliens over American law enforcement.”