The ACLU of Minnesota filed a new class action lawsuit against the federal government Thursday, seeking to stop federal immigration agencies from making indiscriminate arrests that target certain populations in the state.
The suit is against the Department of Homeland Security and its agencies, including ICE, for its alleged targeting of Somali and Latino immigrants. The ACLU claims the practice has led to the arrest of U.S. citizens.
Federal agents "have indiscriminately arrested — without warrants or probable cause — Minnesotans solely because the agents perceived them to be Somali or Latino," the suit reads.
The suit seeks an emergency order "to stop ICE, CBP, and other federal agents from continuing to violate Minnesotans’ rights."
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State and city leaders have pushed back on federal presence.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said federal agents' presence was "causing chaos," and Minnesota's governor Tim Walz on Wednesday accused federal agencies of traumatizing the community.
"Let's be very, very clear. This long ago stopped being of immigration enforcement. Instead, it's a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government," Walz said.
President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that he could invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and allow the U.S. military to be used for law enforcement purposes amid tension in Minnesota.
"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act," Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.
