The US state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over a large-scale federal immigration operation that they say is unconstitutional and politically motivated.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, seeks a court order to halt the deployment of federal immigration agents, which state and city officials argue amounts to a “federal invasion” in violation of the Tenth Amendment.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the legal action at a news conference on Monday, saying the operations had disrupted daily life and caused widespread fear. “This has to stop; it just has to stop,” he said.
The filing came shortly after the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago lodged a similar lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), accusing federal agencies of carrying out an “organized bombardment” of residents.
DHS rejected the lawsuits. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Minnesota’s case was “baseless” and accused state and city leaders of failing to protect public safety. She said sanctuary policies were the reason DHS had increased its presence in Minnesota.
“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 said.
The federal government launched Operation Metro Surge in December, initially targeting undocumented Somali migrants in the Twin Cities, though immigrants from other countries have also been arrested.
According to federal law enforcement sources, about 2,000 federal agents were deployed to the Minneapolis area earlier this month. An additional 1,000 US Customs and Border Protection agents are expected to deploy, with the first arriving on Friday and continuing over the weekend.
DHS has said the operation targets undocumented migrants and that additional agents are needed to ensure officer safety during enforcement actions.
Ellison said the deployment violated Minnesota’s “sovereign authority to protect the health and wellbeing of every single person who lives within our borders”. He accused the Trump administration of retaliating against Minnesota because it is led by Democrats.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said federal agents were acting unlawfully and accused them of racial profiling. He said the operations had led to an increase in 911 calls and forced city police to work overtime responding to incidents involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“As long as federal agents are in our city acting unconstitutionally against our neighbours, we will continue to push back with everything we got,” Frey said.
The lawsuit argues that Operation Metro Surge is not a legitimate law enforcement effort but a political retaliation against Democratic-led jurisdictions.
It cites comments made by President Donald Trump in a recorded interview on 9 January, in which he described Minnesota as “corrupt” and “crooked” because state officials certified election results that did not declare him the winner.
The complaint also alleges that Minneapolis and Saint Paul were targeted because of sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
“Minneapolis and Saint Paul are now the latest of the cities widely considered to be Democratic cities with elected leaders who do not politically align with Trump to be flooded with federal agents,” the lawsuit states.
Tensions escalated after an ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old US citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis last Wednesday. Good, a mother of three, died during an encounter involving federal agents.
On Saturday, DHS posted a video on X showing the three minutes and 30 seconds before the shooting. The footage shows Good’s maroon Honda Pilot partially blocking a street, with several vehicles believed to belong to federal agents stopped behind her.
The media continues to fail the American people in their reporting on the events in Minneapolis.
New evidence shows that the anti-ICE agitator was STALKING and IMPEDING a law enforcement operation over the course of the morning.
The evidence speaks for itself. The legacy media… pic.twitter.com/0enstqGkhq
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 10, 2026DHS claimed, without providing evidence, that Good had been “stalking and impeding a law enforcement operation over the course of the morning”.
The video shows vehicles passing Good’s car as horns sound. After about three minutes, sirens are heard and two vehicles pass her. A truck appears to pull up perpendicular to her vehicle, and agents exit. Good appears to gesture with her hands. The video cuts off just before shots were fired.
The post followed the release of cellphone video obtained by CNN, recorded by the agent who fired the shots, Jonathan Ross. The shooting itself is not visible, but three gunshots can be heard.
Federal officials allege Good attempted to run over agents with her vehicle. Local officials dispute this account and say the use of deadly force was unnecessary.
The FBI has said it will investigate the shooting. State officials say the Justice Department has blocked their participation in what was initially planned as a joint federal-state investigation.
On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem criticised Minnesota officials, telling them to “grow up” during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union”.
She accused Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Frey of politicising the shooting and encouraging “destruction” and “violence” in the city.
“They have inflamed the public,” Noem said.
Frey rejected that claim and reiterated that the shooting involved “a federal agent recklessly using power that ended up in somebody dying”. He called for an independent investigation.
US Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said federal enforcement actions were creating “chaos” and intimidating residents. She said ICE agents were operating from unmarked vehicles and wearing masks.
“What they are doing is creating confusion, chaos, trying to intimidate people from being able to exercise their regular, normal activities,” Omar said on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.
Omar said she and other Minnesota Democratic lawmakers were denied access to a Minneapolis-area ICE facility on Saturday after briefly entering it.
McLaughlin said Noem had issued a directive on Thursday requiring lawmakers to provide a week’s notice before visiting detention facilities, citing escalating riots and political violence targeting ICE facilities.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara warned that frequent confrontations between protesters and law enforcement could spiral out of control. Speaking on The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast, he said the National Guard might not be able to respond quickly enough if violence escalated.
“It could very, very quickly explode,” O’Hara said.
Illinois and Chicago’s lawsuit names DHS, ICE, Customs and Border Protection, US Border Patrol, senior agency leaders, and CBP Commander Gregory Bovino, who led operations in Chicago.
The lawsuit alleges that federal agencies have carried out “sweeping raids and indiscriminate violence” to pressure the state and city into abandoning immigration policies that protect migrants.
“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorised our communities,” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said.
McLaughlin accused Illinois and Chicago officials of releasing violent criminals and said their “dereliction of duty cost lives”.
Both lawsuits ask federal courts to declare the deployments illegal. Minnesota prosecutors said they may seek a temporary restraining order as early as Tuesday.
DHS has said it will defend the operations in court.