MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota and its two largest cities sued the Trump administration Monday to try to stop a surge in immigration enforcement that led to the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal officer and sparked anger and protests across the country.
The state, along with Minneapolis and St. Paul, said the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections. The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order to stop the enforcement action or limit the operation.
“This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and it has to stop,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference. “These poorly trained, aggressive and armed federal agents have terrorized Minnesota with widespread illegal conduct.”
Homeland Security is promising to deploy more than 2,000 immigration officers to Minnesota and says it has made more than 2,000 arrests since December. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has called the surge into the largest enforcement operation ever.
The lawsuit accuses the Republican Trump administration of violating free speech rights by targeting pro-Democrat Minnesota on politics.
Hours earlier, federal officers fired tear gas to break up a crowd of whistleblowing bystanders in Minneapolis who had turned out to witness the aftermath of a car crash involving immigration agents, just blocks from where Renee Good was fatally shot.
A crowd came out to see a man being interrogated by agents who had rear-ended his car. The agents used tear gas to try to break up the group, then drove off as people shouted, “cowards!”
It was another tense scene after Good’s death on Jan. 7 and a weekend of more immigration enforcement sweeps in the Minneapolis area. There have been dozens of protests or vigils across the United States to honor Good and passionately criticize the tactics of the Trump administration.
Governor Tim Walz and his wife Gwen visited the memorial for Good, 37 years old, on the road where she was shot in the head and killed while driving her SUV.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended the immigration agent who shot her, saying Good and her vehicle posed a threat. But that explanation has been widely disputed by Walz and others based on footage of the encounter.
Christian Molina, a US citizen who lives in Coon Rapids, said he was driving to a mechanic on Monday when agents in another vehicle followed him, even turning on their sirens.
Molina said his rear bumper was hit as he turned a corner. He refused to produce identification for the agents, saying he would wait for the local police.
“I’m glad they didn’t shoot me or something,” Molina told reporters.
Standing next to the damaged fender, he asked aloud: “Who will pay for my car?”
Meanwhile, in Portland, Oregon, federal authorities filed charges against a Venezuelan national who was one of two people shot there by the US Border Patrol on Thursday. The American Department of Justice said that the man used his pickup truck to hit a Border Patrol vehicle and fled the scene with a woman.
They were shot and eventually arrested. Their injuries were not life threatening. The FBI said there was no video of the incident, unlike the Good shooting.