Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of the state and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, seeking to end Operation Metro Surge and obtain a temporary restraining order against what officials describe as unconstitutional and unlawful deployment of thousands of federal agents.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, challenges the December 2025 initiation of Operation Metro Surge, during which thousands of armed and masked DHS agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have conducted enforcement operations throughout the Twin Cities metro area.
According to the complaint, the surge has forced municipalities to divert local law enforcement resources, strained emergency responder services, led to school lockdowns and closures, forced business closures, and resulted in what officials describe as repeated violations of residents’ constitutional rights.
The state and cities allege violations of the First and Tenth Amendments, the Constitution’s guarantee of equal sovereignty between state and federal governments, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The lawsuit seeks an end to Operation Metro Surge and cessation of what plaintiffs describe as unlawful behaviors by DHS agents, including use of force against individuals engaged in protected speech, arrests of bystanders, pointing firearms at individuals who pose no threat, and enforcement actions at sensitive locations including schools, churches, and hospitals.
“The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota,” Ellison said. “People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close. Minnesota police are spending countless hours dealing with the chaos ICE is causing.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city did not request the operation. “When federal actions undermine public safety, harm our neighbors, and violate constitutional rights, we have a responsibility to act,” Frey said.
Saint Paul Mayor Kaohly Her described the operation as an occupation. “They’ve come into Saint Paul and needlessly invaded our neighborhoods and homes; they’re targeting us based on what we look and sound like,” Her said.
The lawsuit documents multiple alleged incidents involving peaceful bystanders and citizens who were arrested, had riot control munitions and chemical irritants used against them, or had guns pointed at them. The complaint states that many United States citizens have been subjected to racial profiling by DHS agents. One ICE agent reportedly told an individual they were being stopped because “I can hear you don’t have the same accent as me.”
On January 7, 2026, a DHS agent shot and killed Renee Good, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint states that customer-facing businesses in Minneapolis are reporting revenue decreases of 50 to 80 percent due to customers’ reluctance to patronize businesses amid increased immigration enforcement.
The Minneapolis Police Department began tracking overtime related to the operation on January 7, 2026. By January 9, Minneapolis Police officers had worked more than 3,000 hours of overtime, with estimated costs to taxpayers exceeding $2 million for the period between January 8 and January 11, according to the lawsuit.
The coalition alleges that DHS agents have commandeered police resources by forcing state and local law enforcement to respond to situations created by federal agents’ actions, including abandoned vehicles in public roadways and 911 calls from residents uncertain whether apprehensions were acts of kidnapping.
The lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration’s decision to target Minnesota was motivated by political retaliation rather than immigration enforcement or public safety concerns. The complaint cites President Trump’s January 9 statement describing Minnesota as “corrupt” and “crooked” because officials reported election results that did not declare him the winner.
“They’re crooked officials,” Trump stated, according to the lawsuit. “I feel that I won Minnesota all three times. I think I won it all three times. I won it all three times in my opinion. It’s a corrupt voter state. I won Minnesota three times and I didn’t get credit for it. That’s a crooked state.”
The complaint notes that Minnesota’s noncitizen immigrant population without legal status represents approximately 1.5 percent of the state’s population, less than half the national average. States including Utah, Texas, and Florida have higher percentages of noncitizen immigrants but have not experienced comparable surges of federal agents, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs allege the targeting of Minnesota fits a pattern of the Trump administration targeting Democratic municipalities, including Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
In addition to filing the lawsuit, the coalition filed for a temporary restraining order seeking immediate protection from what they describe as DHS’ unlawful actions.
