MINNEAPOLIS — The State of Minnesota, flanked by the leaders of its two largest cities, launched a high-stakes legal offensive against the Trump administration on Monday, seeking to immediately block a federal immigration “surge” that officials have characterized as a politically motivated occupation.
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, demands an end to “Operation Metro Surge,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative that has deployed an estimated 3,000 armed federal agents into the Twin Cities. The legal move comes just days after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renée Nicole Good by an ICE agent—an event that has turned Minneapolis into the epicenter of a national crisis over federal authority and civil rights.
“Thousands of poorly trained, aggressive, and armed agents have rolled into our communities,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a Monday press conference. “This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities. It has made us less safe, and it must stop.”
The Legal Frontline
The lawsuit, joined by the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, alleges that the federal government has violated the First, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments, along with the Administrative Procedure Act.
The state’s arguments center on several key allegations of federal overreach:
- Political Retaliation: The filing claims Minnesota was targeted for its “differences of opinion” with the White House. Mayor Jacob Frey noted that while states like Florida and Texas have significantly higher undocumented populations, they have not seen a comparable militarized surge.+1
- Tenth Amendment Violations: The state argues the surge interferes with Minnesota’s sovereign authority to manage its own public safety, forcing local police to divert thousands of hours toward managing the “chaos” created by federal raids.
- Unconstitutional Conduct: The lawsuit cites at least 20 instances of “apparent abductions,” where masked agents allegedly detained residents without warrants or probable cause, often in “sensitive locations” like schools and hospitals.
A City in Lockdown
The atmospheric shift in the Twin Cities since the surge began in December 2025 has been profound. Local officials report that the aggressive tactics of “Operation Metro Surge” have effectively shuttered local businesses and forced schools into repeated lockdowns.
“I am now carrying my passport card and ID with me at all times,” said St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, a Hmong-American immigrant. “Because I don’t know when I’m going to be detained.”
The tension reached a breaking point on January 7, when Renée Good was killed. While DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the agent’s actions as self-defense, the lawsuit dismisses the federal narrative as a “pretext” for a broader campaign of intimidation against a Democratic-led state.
The National Domino Effect
Minnesota is not standing alone. Hours after Ellison’s announcement, the state of Illinois filed a near-identical suit, signaling a coordinated effort by “Blue State” governors and attorneys general to resist the administration’s domestic enforcement strategies.
In Washington, the White House has remained defiant. President Trump has repeatedly pointed to a series of social services fraud cases in Minnesota as justification for the “Metro Surge,” framing the operation as a necessary crackdown on “lawlessness” that local leaders have supposedly ignored.
For the residents of Minneapolis, however, the “crackdown” feels less like law enforcement and more like a siege. As the court considers a motion for a temporary restraining order, the city remains on edge, caught between a federal government determined to flex its muscle and a state government fighting to reclaim its streets.