Minnesota officials Monday sued federal immigration authorities, claiming the Trump administration’s “unprecedented surge” of immigration agents violates the U.S. Constitution and the state’s right to police itself.
The complaint filed by Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul also alleges the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Metro Surge” in the Twin Cities area is politically motivated.
“Thousands of armed and masked DHS agents have stormed the Twin Cities to conduct militarized raids and carry out dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional stops and arrests in sensitive public places, including schools and hospitals—all under the guise of lawful immigration enforcement,” the filing says.
Defendants named included DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem, Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd M. Lyons and Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino.
Asked about the Minnesota lawsuit, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agency’s activities are authorized under Articles I and II of the Constitution and the Supremacy clause.
“It really is astounding that the Left can miraculously rediscover the Tenth Amendment when they don’t want federal law enforcement officers to enforce federal law,” McLaughlin said in a statement to The Washington Post.
DHS’s immigration enforcement activity has come under heightened scrutiny since an ICE officer shot and killed Renée Good, a 37-year-old motherof three, in her car in Minneapolis on Wednesday. The incident has raised tensions and sparked protests locally and across the country.
Noem said Good had committed an act of “domestic terrorism” by attempting to “run a law enforcement officer over.” But a frame-by-frame analysis of video footage raises questions about that classification, as the vehicle did move forward but the agent was able to move out of the way and fire at least two or three shots as the SUV veered past.
What people have seen in the video itself has become politicized and roughly fallen along party lines.
Noem said Sunday “hundreds” more agents are coming to Minneapolis. And DHS said last week its Minnesota effort would be the agency’s largest immigration enforcement operation ever, with 2,000 federal agents and officers involved.
The post Minnesota sues DHS, ICE over immigration enforcement appeared first on Washington Post.
