"Federal Invasion": Minnesota Officials Condemn Violent ICE Raids, Arrests

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison explicitly stated that the deployment of thousands of armed, masked DHS agents constitutes a 'federal invasion' of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, causing 'serious harm,' 'chaos,' and 'terror' across the metropolitan area.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison stated, 'Deployment of thousands of armed masked DHS agents to Minnesota has done our state serious harm. This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop. DHS agents have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan area.'

The scale of federal operations in the Twin Cities is unprecedented, with the number of federal agents expected to reach 3,000, a force larger than the combined total of the 10 largest metro police departments in the area. This massive presence is seen as a direct challenge to local authority.

The Minnesota Star Tribune reports the number of federal agents now in the Twin Cities dwarfs the size of local police. The size of the federal force is expected to soon reach 3,000 officers. That's bigger than the 10 largest metro police departments combined in the Twin Cities.

Both state and local governments, including Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, have filed lawsuits against the federal government. Additionally, 11 federal prosecutors—six in Minneapolis and five in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in D.C.—resigned in protest over the DOJ's refusal to investigate the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good.

On Monday, the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul sued the federal government. Six federal prosecutors in the Minneapolis US Attorney's Office have resigned over the Justice Department pushed to investigate the widow of Renee Good. In Washington, D.C., five senior prosecutors in the criminal wing of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division have resigned in protest over the DOJ's decision not to investigate the ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Renee Good.

Federal agents are reportedly engaging in racial profiling, leading to incidents described as 'kidnappings' where residents are taken off the street or pulled from vehicles without warrants. This has instilled such fear that citizens, including the St. Paul mayor, carry multiple IDs, and families consider avoiding work, school, and essential errands.

Wa Jong Ken, Vice President of the St. Paul City Council, stated, 'They're racially profiling neighbors and just taking them off the street. We have accounts of folks walking down the sidewalk getting scooped up. Neighbors getting pulled out of vehicles.' She added, 'Neighbors are also considering not going to work. Um not sending their kids to school, not going grocery shopping, not going to the laundromat, the very simple things that just keep families going.'