MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the federal government to stop an enforcement surge by Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer.
The state and cities filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday, along with a request for a temporary restraining order to halt the enforcement action or limit the operation.
The Department of Homeland Security says it’s surging more than 2,000 immigration officers into Minnesota, and that it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the city since the push began last month. ICE has called the Minnesota surge its largest enforcement operation ever.
The lawsuit alleges that Operation Metro Surge violates federal law because it’s arbitrary and capricious, since it says other states aren’t seeing commensurate crackdowns. And while the Trump administration says it’s about fighting fraud, the lawsuit says ICE agents have no expertise in combatting fraud in government programs.
The lawsuit says the federal government is really targeting Minnesota over politics, which it says is a violation of the First Amendment.
Also, Monday federal officers fired tear gas to break up a crowd of whistle-blowing bystanders in Minneapolis who showed up to see the aftermath of a car crash involving immigration agents, just a few blocks from last week’s fatal shooting.
A crowd emerged to witness a man being questioned by agents who had rear-ended his car. Agents used tear gas to try to break up the group, then drove off as people screamed, “cowards!”
It was another tense scene following the death of Renee Good on Jan. 7 and a weekend of more immigration enforcement sweeps in the Minneapolis area. There were dozens of protests or vigils across the U.S. to honor Good and passionately criticize the Trump administration’s tactics.
Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen visited the memorial to Good, 37, on the street 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 presented a threat. But that explanation has been widely panned by Walz and others based on videos of the confrontation.
Christian Molina, a U.S. citizen who lives in Coon Rapids, said he was driving to a mechanic Monday when agents in another vehicle followed him, even turning on a siren.
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 local police.
“I’m glad they didn’t shoot me or something,” Molina told reporters.
Standing near the mangled fender, he wondered aloud: “Who’s going to 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 U.S. Border Patrol on Thursday. The U.S. Justice Department said the man used his pickup truck to strike a Border Patrol vehicle and escape the scene with a woman.
They were shot and eventually arrested. Their wounds were not life-threatening. The FBI said there was no video of the incident, unlike the Good shooting.