Democrat officials in Minnesota announced they have filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to force the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Operation Metro Surge,” which has seen significant U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in the state. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), alongside Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her (D), criticized the federal immigration enforcement action, claiming, “The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota. People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close.”
Currently, an estimated 2,000 DHS agents from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are deployed to the Twin Cities area, with several hundred more expected to bolster their numbers in the coming days. In the lawsuit, Minnesota Democrats contend the federal operation violates the First and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The filing also claims the immigration enforcement action represents a disruption of the balance of power between federal and state officials, and seeks a temporary, state-wide, restraining order against further DHS actions.