PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: Minnesota’s Democratic political leaders filed a lawsuit on Monday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeking to halt U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) actions in the state as part of “Operation Metro Surge.”

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D), St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her (D), ICE agents, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

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📍WHEN & WHERE: The lawsuit was announced late Monday, January 12, 2026.

💬KEY QUOTE: “The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota.” — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison

🎯IMPACT: The lawsuit seeks to halt federal immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities, claiming constitutional violations and significant disruption to local communities.

Democrat officials in Minnesota announced they have filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to force the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Operation Metro Surge,” which has seen significant U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in the state. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), alongside Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her (D), criticized the federal immigration enforcement action, claiming, “The unlawful deployment of thousands of armed, masked, and poorly trained federal agents is hurting Minnesota. People are being racially profiled, harassed, terrorized, and assaulted. Schools have gone into lockdown. Businesses have been forced to close.”

Currently, an estimated 2,000 DHS agents from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are deployed to the Twin Cities area, with several hundred more expected to bolster their numbers in the coming days. In the lawsuit, Minnesota Democrats contend the federal operation violates the First and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The filing also claims the immigration enforcement action represents a disruption of the balance of power between federal and state officials, and seeks a temporary, state-wide, restraining order against further DHS actions.

The lawsuit follows the fatal shooting of anti-ICE activist Renee Nicole Good last week after she attempted to run over an ICE agent. Notably, the large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation follows widespread evidence of mass social services fraud in Minnesota tied to the state’s Somali immigrant community.

Late last month, U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced that his committee had launched an investigation into Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) and Ellison over allegations of mismanagement resulting in fraud and accusations of evidence destruction. A number of state employee whistleblowers have come forward stating that the Walz administration was aware of the Somali-linked fraud as early as 2019 but declined to act against it out of fear of being perceived as racist and alienating Somali voters.

Image by Gage Skidmore.

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