State and city officials in Minnesota and Illinois filed federal lawsuits against the Trump administration on Monday, claiming that the mass deployment of immigration agents to the Minneapolis and Chicago regions violated the U.S. Constitution and infringed on states’ rights.
Illinois asked a judge to block U.S. Customs and Border Protection “from conducting civil immigration enforcement” in the state without “express congressional authorization.” The Minnesota lawsuit asked a judge to block the federal government from “implementing the unprecedented surge in Minnesota.”
The lawsuits, filed separately in U.S. District Courts in the two Democratic-led states, came a week into a stepped-up immigration enforcement blitz in Minnesota and following a highly visible campaign in Chicago in recent months. Both the Illinois and Minnesota lawsuits claimed that the federal deployments violated state sovereignty under the Constitution’s 10th Amendment.
Federal officials have repeatedly defended their work in both states, calling the campaigns necessary to carry out President Trump’s immigration agenda in the face of uncooperative state and local governments.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement responding to the Illinois case that “this is a baseless lawsuit, and we look forward to proving that in court.”
“It really is astounding that the left can miraculously rediscover the 10th Amendment when they don’t want federal law enforcement officers to enforce federal law,” she said, adding that such enforcement was “a clear federal responsibility” under the Constitution.
The Minneapolis area has been especially tense since an immigration agent shot and killed an American woman, Renee Nicole Good, on a residential street last Wednesday, touching off large protests. The federal government has defended the shooting as lawful and necessary, while local officials have dismissed that narrative as “bullshit” or “propaganda.”
The newly filed lawsuits ask federal judges to impose sweeping limits on the conduct of federal agents in both states. The Illinois case, filed by the state government and the city of Chicago, said that the “Trump administration has unleashed an organized bombardment” and was “imposing a climate of fear.”
The Minnesota case, filed by the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, said that “thousands of armed and masked D.H.S. agents have stormed the Twin Cities to conduct militarized raids and carry out dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional stops and arrests.”
The Illinois lawsuit outlined a list of complaints about roving patrols, use of tear gas and the collection of biometric information by immigration agents. It described a number of high-profile instances from the federal enforcement campaign last year, in which agents marched through the city’s downtown, used a helicopter in a raid on an apartment building and were involved in two shootings.
“The occupation of Illinois and Chicago is intended to coerce plaintiffs to abandon their policies, which value and respect the state’s immigrants, and devote their resources to further the immigration policies of the current administration,” the lawsuit asserted.
Previous lawsuits have challenged Mr. Trump’s decision to federalize National Guard troops over the objections of state Democratic leaders, or have challenged the specific tactics used by immigration agents in their work.
Last year, a federal judge in Illinois temporarily blocked the president’s deployment of National Guard members over the governor’s objection, an effort that the president ultimately abandoned after an appellate court upheld the ruling. A different federal judge in Illinois also imposed sweeping restrictions on immigration agents’ use of force in a lawsuit filed by activists, clergy members and journalists. But an appellate panel struck down those restrictions.
Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to deport illegal immigrants, and he has acted aggressively in the first year of his term to carry out those policies. In addition to Chicago and Minneapolis, immigration agents have conducted crackdowns in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Portland, Ore., among other Democratic-led areas.
The latest focus has been Minnesota, where federal officials have pointed to widespread fraud in state social service programs as a reason for sending large numbers of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, among other officers. Those officers have patrolled streets and arrested people in the Minneapolis area in recent days, sometimes clashing with protesters.
The fatal shooting of Ms. Good last week deepened the hostility between state and federal officials. The F.B.I. is investigating that shooting. Though a state law enforcement agency was initially part of the probe, that agency said it was denied access to evidence and withdrew after political attacks escalated between federal and Minnesota politicians.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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