Minnesota and Illinois filed separate lawsuits against the Trump administration on Monday, saying the president’s immigration crackdown is terrorizing their communities and violates the Constitution.
“We watch with horror as unchecked federal agents violently attack and intimidate Illinois neighborhoods and communities, undermining constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said.
Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul also sued the Trump administration.
During the fall, the federal government stepped up operations in Chicago and the Twin Cities, two Democratic strongholds that local officials criticized for creating chaos and confusion. Last week’s ICE shooting in Minneapolis killed a mother of three and sparked a series of nationwide protests.
Minnesota and Illinois have both called for injunctions to halt immigration in their states.
The lawsuits target the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as reporting agencies including ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Border Patrol.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said the Constitution is on the administration’s side. She said in a statement Monday in response to the lawsuit that more federal officers are needed because sanctuary politicians in Illinois and Minnesota are failing to protect their citizens.
Here are the key claims from both lawsuits.
Lawsuit says unprecedented immigration action violates 10th Amendment
Both lawsuits invoke the 10th Amendment to defend their respective states’ rights, accusing the Trump administration of commandeering local resources to suppress immigration in Minnesota and Illinois.
Their lawsuit alleges that “unlawful and violent tactics disrupt people’s lives, undermine their liberty and property rights” and prevent Illinois and Chicago from enacting the policies their citizens want,
The Minnesota lawsuit specifically highlights the strain on local police resources. The complaint alleges that Minneapolis and St. Paul were forced to divert officers from routine duties to respond to incidents involving federal immigration enforcement, undermining local efforts to protect their communities.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Monday that the deployment of “armed, masked and highly trained federal agents” was a federal intrusion.
CNN reported earlier last week that about 2,000 federal agents would be sent to Minneapolis. The Minnesota lawsuit says that number “far exceeds the number of sworn police officers in Minneapolis and St. Paul combined.”
In total, Minneapolis police officers worked thousands of overtime hours due to the presence of federal agents, costing the city more than $2 million in overtime pay, the lawsuit alleges.
States say Trump’s political retaliation triggered immigration crackdown
Minnesota’s lawsuit claims Operation Metro Surge, the Twin Cities’ immigration crackdown, was not a legitimate enforcement action but the result of “retaliation” against the Democratic-led state.
The complaint details disparaging remarks made by President Donald Trump about the state, saying it was an apparent intent to punish political opponents and jurisdictions through sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with the federal government on immigration efforts.
The Illinois lawsuit makes similar claims, saying Trump and his administration have “a long history of making threatening and derogatory statements against jurisdictions that do not invest in enforcing federal immigration laws.”
“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law — no matter who your mayor, governor or state attorney general is,” McLaughlin said Monday in response to the lawsuit.
Both states say their funds, such as money for social services programs, are being withheld because the administration says they are not following immigration policies.
“Defendants repeatedly made statements that reflected their true intentions — to punish Minnesota elected officials and residents for their political leanings, target so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, create a false political narrative of lawlessness in Minnesota, and incite conflict between Minnesota residents and immigration agents,” Minnesota’s lawsuit states.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon previously told CNN that the funding was revoked because “Democrat-led states and governors are colluding to allow massive fraud to occur on their watch” and that they are ensuring “these states are following the law.”
Minnesota lawsuit says federal agents ‘illegally terrorized’ community
Both lawsuits allege that federal agents used tactics during the operation that were harmful to the community and intimidated everyone who lived there.
Illinois and Chicago said in the lawsuit that the Department of Homeland Security “abandoned long-standing policies” that they said were not only illegal but also “arbitrary and capricious.”
The lawsuit asks the court to stop the agencies from using tactics such as “roving patrols, biometric scans, warrantless arrests,” and other tactics. The lawsuit also accuses agents of regularly trespassing on private property and using riot control weapons such as tear gas on those who did not resist.
They said the tactic left residents fearing for their safety as “uniformed, military-trained personnel carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weapons armed with semi-automatic rifles” roamed the city.
A complaint from Minnesota alleges that Homeland Security agents continued their attacks to “unlawfully terrorize” communities in the Twin Cities hours after 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Good was fatally shot by ICE agents.
“After the fatal shooting two hours earlier, DHS agents were met with unsurprising protests, but pepper spray was used and the vehicle crashed as they left,” the report said.
The Minnesota lawsuit also alleges that federal agents engaged in widespread racial profiling while conducting immigration operations in the Twin Cities, particularly targeting Somali and Hispanic communities.
“On December 10, 2025, two masked Homeland Security agents subdued and arrested Mubashir, a Somali American… despite Mubashir’s repeated requests to be allowed to show legal identification,” the complaint states. “DHS agents then detained Mubashir for two hours for no apparent reason other than his perceived nationality.”
The complaint cites several other incidents in which citizens were detained or questioned on the basis of race, including young workers at Target, employees at the Minneapolis Public Works company or people on their way to work.
States experience decades of immigration enforcement — but this time is different
Illinois and Minnesota said in their respective lawsuits that they have long complied with immigration enforcement rules from different administrations. But they say the tactics and intensity now make these specific operations more like war zones.
“For decades, federal immigration agents have enforced Chicago-area immigration laws by targeting and arresting individuals at risk of deportation, without materially impacting public order and safety in the State of Illinois or Chicago,” the Illinois lawsuit states. But now, the agents are acting more like “occupiers than law enforcement officers.”
“This has left many Illinois and Chicago residents, regardless of immigration status, afraid to take advantage of public services or even venture out for normal, day-to-day activities,” the lawsuit states.
In addition to the unprecedented scale and intensity, the Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits allege that the Department of Homeland Security has abandoned its long-standing practice of avoiding immigration operations in “sensitive” public spaces.
The policy was revoked to make way for operations, the complaint said.
“Thousands of armed, masked Homeland Security agents descended on the Twin Cities, conducting military raids and conducting dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional stops and arrests in sensitive public spaces, including schools and hospitals, all under the guise of legitimate immigration enforcement,” Minnesota’s complaint states.
Immigration enforcement shows no end in sight
With no end in sight for immigration enforcement, states say more harm is certain to come to residents.
Federal law enforcement has increased in Illinois since September, and officials have repeatedly said they have no plans to withdraw.
“If you think we’re done with Chicago, you better check yourself before you destroy yourself. Don’t call it a comeback; we’re going to be here for many years,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino said last month.
Minnesota’s complaint also says the federal government appears poised to continue operations in the state despite continued escalation and public outcry.
In a social media post cited in last week’s Minnesota lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security wrote: “We will not leave until this issue is resolved.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Sylvie Kirsch, Sydney Bishop, Taylor Galgano, Sharif Paget, Kaanita Iyer, Camila DeChalus and Aileen Graef contributed to this report.
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