Minnesota and the state's two largest cities have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump's administration in an attempt to stop a series of actions by U.S. Customs and Immigration Services that led to the death of a woman in Minneapolis, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The state, supported by Minneapolis and St. Paul, said the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional provisions. The state is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop or limit the agency's operations.
"This is, in essence, a federal invasion" of the Twin Cities in Minnesota and it must stop," Minneapolis Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a press conference. "These poorly trained, aggressive and armed federal agents are terrorizing Minnesota with widespread illegal behavior."
The Department of Homeland Security has pledged to deploy more than 2,000 immigration officers to Minnesota and says it has made more than 2,000 arrests since December. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called it its largest law enforcement operation to date.
The lawsuit accuses the Republican Trump administration of violating free speech rights by targeting Democratic-leaning Minnesota for political reasons, the AP notes. The state is asking the court to prevent the federal government from arresting U.S. citizens and visa holders without reasonable cause if they have not committed a crime, as well as to prohibit U.S. federal officers from threatening to use force or brandishing weapons against people who are not subject to arrest for immigration reasons, as well as other restrictions on federal actions.
The state of Illinois also filed a lawsuit yesterday, with the state's Democratic governor, J.B. Pritzker, saying the lawsuit was filed because of the "dangerous use of force" by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Reuters notes.
"The reality is that uniformed, military-trained officers carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weapons have been rampaging through Chicago and surrounding areas for months, unlawfully stopping, questioning and arresting residents and attacking them with chemical weapons," the lawsuit says. The document accuses the Trump administration of "provoking unrest and imposing a climate of fear" in the state.