Minnesota has initiated legal action against the Trump administration, aiming to halt immigration enforcement activities following a fatal shooting of a woman on a local street last week.
The lawsuit targets US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and several immigration officials, filed shortly after the death of Renee Good, a mother of three, in Minneapolis.
In its plea, the lawsuit requests a federal court in Minnesota to rule the influx of ICE agents as unconstitutional and illegal.
The Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to deploy up to 2,000 additional immigration officers, intensifying President Trump’s mass deportation initiatives.
According to officials, over 2,000 arrests have already been made in Minneapolis since the operation’s inception last month. ICE has described this as its most extensive enforcement operation to date in Minnesota.
The legal complaint argues that Operation Metro Surge breaches federal laws due to its arbitrary nature and highlights the lack of similar actions in other states.
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 actually targeting Minnesota over politics, which it says is a violation of the First Amendment.
The state of Minnesota has sued President Donald Trump’s administration in an effort to block immigration enforcement operations after a woman was shot dead on the street last week
The arrival of ICE has sparked protests in the streets of Minnesota
‘Thousands of armed and masked DHS agents have stormed the Twin Cities (of Minneapolis and Saint Paul) 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 lawsuit states.
The state also seeks a ban on US officers threatening to use physical force or brandishing weapons against people who are not subject to an immigration arrest, and other limits on federal law enforcement action.
Minnesota authorities are seeking to prevent the federal government from arresting US citizens and visa holders without probable cause that they have committed a crime.
The Republican administration has deployed federal law enforcement officers into several cities and states largely governed by Democrats in what Trump says is a crackdown on illegal immigration and other crimes including corruption.
Democratic leaders in turn have accused Trump of a politically motivated abuse of power.
Tensions erupted in Minnesota last week when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Good, 37, as she observed the law enforcement action.
Noem accused Good of domestic terrorism, saying she was attempting to ram an officer with her vehicle, while critics of the Trump administration have staged a series of protests to denounce the shooting as unjustified.
Good’s killing has sparked global outrage with furious Democrats branding the officer involved, Jon Ross, a murderer. But Ross has the full support of the Trump administration, who argue he acted in self-defense when it appeared Good intended to run him down with her car.
Tensions erupted in Minnesota last week when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Good, 37, as she observed the law enforcement action
ICE agent Jonathan ‘Jon’ Ross fatally shot Good
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials have defended Ross as an experienced law enforcement professional who followed his training.
Recordings of the shooting show an officer approaching Good’s stopped SUV. He grabbed the driver’s door handle as he allegedly demanded she open the door.
Her Honda Pilot began to pull forward and Ross pulled his weapon, immediately firing three shots and jumping back as the vehicle moved toward him.
It is not clear from the videos if the vehicle made contact with Ross. After the shooting, the SUV slammed into two cars parked on a curb before crashing to a stop.
Newly released surveillance video showed how Good apparently blocked the road with her SUV for four minutes before she was killed.
About 20 seconds after Good pulled up to the street, a passenger – believed to be her wife Rebecca Good – exited the vehicle and eventually began filming.
