Illinois’s lawsuit, joined by Chicago, questioned ICE’s tactics, particularly throughout the immigration enforcement effort “Operation Midway Blitz.” Agents utilized violent and unlawful tactics in violation of the Tenth Amendment and federal statutes, alleged the lawsuit, which was filed by Attorney General Kwame Raoul. 

“Though Defendants describe this assault as ‘immigration enforcement,’ the reality is that uniformed, military-trained personnel, carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weaponry, have rampaged for months through Chicago and surrounding areas, lawlessly stopping, interrogating, and arresting residents, and attacking them with chemical weapons,” court filings read.

Minnesota and the Twin Cities, known as the metropolitan hot spot encompassing Minneapolis and Saint Paul, filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. If it passes legal muster, ICE, and other government agencies aiding immigration enforcement through “Operation Metro Surge,” including Customs and Border Protection agents, would be ordered to halt or limit operations. 

“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,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said, calling the surge “a federal invasion.”

“We allege that the surge’s reckless impact on our schools, on our local law enforcement, is a violation of the 10th Amendment and the sovereign laws and powers of the Constitution grants to states. We allege that DHS forces use of excessive and lethal force, their warrantless racist arrests, their targeting of our courts,” he continued. 

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, announced last month that it was surging immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Since then, ICE and other federal agents have arrested more than 1,500 illegal immigrants, including alleged murderers, child predators, rapists, and gang members across Minnesota, since Operation Metro Surge began, DHS said last week. 

The surge attracted national notice on Jan. 7 when an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a Minnesota resident, claiming self-defense. 

The deadly shooting sparked a federal investigation and sweeping controversy, with the Trump administration saying the killing was justified due to claims the agent was in fear for his life. Critics believe the incident more closely resembled a murder and a concerning use of government force. 

In the lawsuit brought Monday, Ellison accused the Trump administration of causing “serious harm” with the surge, citing incidents such as the shooting of Good. 

BESSENT CALLS MINNESOTA ‘GENESIS’ OF NATIONWIDE ROLLOUT FOR ANTI-FRAUD PROTOCOLS

The attorney general’s efforts to limit further action from the DHS through the lawsuit came just hours after Secretary Kristi Noem revealed the agency will be sending hundreds more agents on Sunday and Monday to Minneapolis to allow ICE and Border Patrol agents to do their work “safely” amid demonstrations marking Good’s death. 

The lawsuit names Noem, ICE Director Todd Lyons, and Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, among other federal officials. It asks the court to block federal agents from arresting U.S. citizens and visa holders without probable cause that they have committed a crime. And it seeks a ban on agents threatening to use physical force or brandishing weapons against people who are not subject to an immigration arrest, such as Good.