type: timeline_event
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, filed a federal lawsuit against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials seeking to halt Operation Metro Surge. The lawsuit alleged violations of the 10th Amendment and constitutional sovereignty, asking the court to declare the ICE surge unconstitutional and grant a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction.
The lawsuit cited: unlawful racial profiling, targeting of sensitive locations (schools, medical facilities, places of worship, daycares, funeral homes), arresting peaceful bystanders, and detaining U.S. citizens. The filing came five days after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and legal observer.
The lawsuit noted that Minneapolis police had worked over 3,000 hours of overtime by January 9, with estimated costs exceeding $2 million in just four days. Customer-facing businesses along immigrant corridors reported 50-80% revenue decreases, with 80% of immigrant-owned businesses temporarily closing—described by business owners as "worse than COVID."