Minneapolis — Days of demonstrations against immigration agents left Minnesota tense on Tuesday, a day after federal authorities used tear gas to disperse crowds of whistleblower activists and state and local leaders filed a lawsuit to fight increased law enforcement that has led to Fatal shooting For a Minneapolis woman.
Confrontations between federal agents and protesters stretched throughout the day and across multiple cities on Monday. Agents fired tear gas in Minneapolis as a crowd gathered around immigration officers to question a man, while northwest in St. Cloud hundreds of people protested outside a strip of Somali-run businesses after ICE officers arrived.
Later that night confrontations broke out between protesters and officers guarding the federal building being used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.
With the Department of Homeland Security pledging to send more than 2,000 immigration officers to Minnesota in what ICE described as an “immigration operation.” The largest enforcement operation Never the less, the state, joined by Minneapolis and St. Paul, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday to try to stop or limit the increase.
The lawsuit says the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections. The Trump administration accuses the Republic of violating free speech rights by focusing on a progressive state that favors Democrats and welcomes immigrants.
“This is, in essence, a federal invasion of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, and it must stop,” state Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since December.
I witnessed the days after Renee Good was shot in the head by an ICE officer while driving her SUV. Dozens of protests or vigils All over the United States to honor the 37-year-old mother of three and to enthusiastically criticize her Trump administration tactics.
In response to the lawsuit filed Monday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin accused Minnesota officials of ignoring public safety.
“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law — no matter who the mayor, governor or state attorney general is,” McLaughlin said.
The Trump administration has He defended again and again The immigration agent who shot Judd, saying she and her car were a threat. But that explanation has been widely criticized by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and others based on videos of the confrontation.
The government is also facing a new lawsuit over a similar immigration case Crackdown in Illinois. More than 4,300 people were arrested last year in “Operation Midway Blitz,” when masked agents swept through the Chicago area. The lawsuit filed by the city and state says the campaign had a chilling effect, making residents afraid to leave their homes.
The lawsuit seeks restrictions on certain tactics, among other remedies. McLaughlin called it “baseless.”
Meanwhile, in Portland, Oregon, federal authorities filed charges against a Venezuelan national who was one of two people shot by US Border Patrol there on Thursday. The US Department of Justice said the man used his pickup truck to ram a Border Patrol vehicle and fled the scene with a woman.
They were shot and eventually arrested. Their injuries were not life-threatening. The FBI said there was no video of the incident, unlike Jade’s shooting.
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Associated Press reporters Ed White in Detroit, Sarah Reda in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Sophia Tarin in Chicago contributed to this report.