What we're covering
• More agents to Minnesota: Around 1,000 more Customs and Border Protection agents are expected to deploy to Minneapolis, sources say. This comes as tensions continue to flare between residents and federal agents after the fatal, ICE-involved shooting last week of mother Renee Nicole Good sparked protests nationwide.
• Locals sue: Democratic-led Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul are suing the Trump administration, arguing the widespread immigration operation is “a federal invasion of the Twin Cities.” The lawsuit doesn’t aim to kick out ICE entirely but is happening “because of this escalation,” Minnesota’s attorney general told CNN.
• White House reaction: President Donald Trump defended ICE agents in Minnesota, saying online that a “day of reckoning and retribution is coming.” Trump first ramped up the Minneapolis-area enforcement push in December to target undocumented Somali immigrants, but like other such actions across the country, it has nabbed people from other nations and many without criminal records.
Pepper balls fired toward Minneapolis crowd as people blow whistles, shout “ICE out now”
Pepper balls were dispersed as federal agents and protestors clashed Tuesday morning in the Powderhorn neighborhood of Minneapolis. Many residents blew whistles and shouted “ICE out now,” telling agents to get out of their neighborhood.
Agents had surged into the area with at least 15 different large SUVs, according to a CNN crew on the scene.
As agents returned to their vehicles, flash bangs were also fired at the crowd. Some protesters were then seen throwing snowballs at the agents.
Video captured by CNN at the scene shows crowds and federal agents jostling. One individual can be seen pinned to the ground by agents as others in the crowd yell on.
Border czar Homan is confident Trump admin will win lawsuit filed by Minnesota
White House Border Czar Tom Homan defended the immigration operation in Minnesota and pushed back against claims from local officials stating it was a “federal invasion” on Fox News this morning.
“We’ll win the lawsuits ‘cause we’re simply enforcing laws that were enacted by Congress. We’re not making this up,” he said, responding to the lawsuit filed yesterday by the state against the Trump administration, stating the constitutional rights of their residents are being violated.
He defended ICE agents after criticisms of inadequate training came from local officials, saying the agents they hire have law enforcement backgrounds and are often previously retired ICE agents returning to the workforce.
“I think the training’s adequate,” he said.
New Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits against Trump administration are similar, but not the same
Although they were filed on the same day and have similar aims, the new federal lawsuits challenging Trump administration immigration surges in Minnesota and Illinois are not seeking exactly the same thing.
In Minnesota: In its lawsuit, the state asks a judge to “Declare that Defendants’ unprecedented surge of Defendants’ agents in Minnesota is unconstitutional and unlawful” and reinstate a previous policy avoiding immigration raids at schools, hospitals and houses of worship. The plaintiffs also want a judge to ban aggressive engagement techniques against suspects and protesters.
Attorney General Keith Ellison told CNN’s Sara Sidner the purpose is not to end all immigration enforcement in his state.
“The word surge is important here,” Ellison said today.
In Illinois: The state’s lawsuit goes further, saying the court should “enjoin Defendant CBP from conducting civil immigration enforcement in Illinois” unless there is “express Congressional authorization” to do so.
While the Illinois Attorney General’s Office says it wants the Trump administration “to stop using tactics that exceed their statutory authority granted by Congress,” the Supreme Court has ruled that courts must give great deference to the executive branch on how to enforce laws.
As CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig noted earlier, “There is no way a judge can say, ‘You, federal law enforcement agency: You are not allowed to execute federal law in a certain state or city.’”
Trump defends ICE in Minnesota as more federal agents are expected to deploy there
President Donald Trump just defended ICE agents on the ground in Minnesota, calling them “patriots” whose only motivation is to remove criminal undocumented immigrants from the community.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump attacked familiar political rivals and said Minnesota Democrats “love the unrest that anarchists and professional agitators are causing because it gets the spotlight off of the 19 Billion Dollars that was stolen by really bad and deranged people,” referring to fraud allegations in the state. He also said a “reckoning” was coming, as around 1,000 more US Customs and Border Protection agents are expected to deploy to Minneapolis in the wake of last week’s shooting involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer that left a mother of three dead.
Remember: Minnesota and Illinois are suing the Trump administration over the immigration tactics used their states, which Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said have “terrorized our communities” and violated the Constitution.
“Every place we go, crime comes down. In Chicago, despite a weak and incompetent Governor and Mayor fighting us all the way, a big improvement was made. Thousands of Criminals were removed!” Trump said.
Trump did not mention in his post Renee Good, the US citizen and mother of three who was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. On Air Force One Sunday, Trump called Good a “very violent” and “radical” person.
Meanwhile: Trump administration moves to terminate a form of humanitarian relief for Somalis
The Department of Homeland Security said today it is ending a form of humanitarian relief for Somali nationals living in the United States.
The Trump administration has stripped deportation protections from multiple nationalities in the US that were allowed to temporarily live in the country, arguing that conditions at home no longer justified those protections. The termination of the relief, known as Temporary Protected Status, has prompted legal challenges nationwide and has been blocked by federal judges in some instances.
Today’s announcement comes as protections for Somalis were set to expire on March 17. During the Biden administration, then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended the program for the community. The department is required to decide whether to extend or terminate TPS at least 60 days prior to the designation’s expiration.
In November, President Donald Trump indicated that he intended to terminate protections for Somali immigrants residing in the US, claiming, “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!”
Somalis, particularly in Minnesota, have faced harassment and threats amid a welfare-fraud scandal that ensnared the community. Nearly 58% of Somalis in Minnesota were born in the US, according to the US Census Bureau. Of the foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota, an overwhelming majority – 87% – are naturalized US citizens.
TPS applies to people who would face extreme hardship if forced to return to homelands devastated by armed conflict or natural disasters, therefore so the protections are limited to people already in the United States. Past Republican and Democratic administrations have designated the protections, though some Republicans have argued the relief shouldn’t have been extended multiple times.
Some context: Somali citizens were first granted TPS in 1991 and maintained it “due to insecurity and ongoing armed conflict,” according to an August Congressional Research Service report, which also said 705 Somali nationals were covered by TPS as of March 2025.
Minnesota AG says new lawsuit is not intended to kick ICE out of state
Although Minnesota’s new lawsuit asking a judge to declare the latest surge of immigration enforcement in the state “unconstitutional and unlawful,” Attorney General Keith Ellison says the purpose is not to kick agents out entirely.
“We’re not saying that ICE cannot have a presence in Minnesota,” Ellison told CNN’s Sara Sidner on Tuesday morning. “We’re saying the dramatic escalation, which is unwarranted and politically motivated, is harming our state and our cities.”
The morning after the lawsuit was filed, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social: “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
“Well, if he’s threatening retribution, I believe that he means that,” Ellison told CNN. “He’s known for vengeance.”
“We will be the precedent-setting case," St. Paul mayor says of lawsuit against Trump administration
The lawsuit by Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul that argues the Trump administration’s widespread immigration enforcement operation is “a federal invasion of the Twin Cities” is not meant to stop federal agents from working within their legal limits, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her told CNN on Tuesday.
“This is to hold them accountable. They are terrorizing our neighborhoods and our communities, and (for) that they have to be held accountable,” Her told Kate Bolduan, adding the plaintiffs believe the Trump administration is neither complying with the Constitution and federal policies nor respecting states’ rights.
This “will be the precedent-setting case,” the Democratic mayor said when asked how this suit might align with prior legal claims.
“This is unprecedented time. There wouldn’t be any kind of case that exists already because this is the first this is happening,” Her said. “Never in any other administration has any president had this type of overreach into local jurisdictions.”
Legal actions are “political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits,” analyst says
While they may contain strong claims, the lawsuits filed by Illinois and Minnesota are “really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits,” CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said.
“If you look at what both states are asking the courts to do, it’s to kick ICE out of those states and cities and to bar ICE from carrying on federal law enforcement in Illinois and Minnesota,” he told Kate Bolduan on CNN News Central Tuesday morning.
But “there is zero precedent for that,” Honig said. “There is no way a judge can say, ‘You, federal law enforcement agency: You are not allowed to execute federal law in a certain state or city.’”
The most that Illinois and Minnesota could get out of their efforts – if they get sympathetic judges – “is a judge who’s going to ask questions of ICE, who’s going to hold hearings, who’s going to demand questions about how they’re training, how they’re carrying out their policy,” Honig said.
“But I don’t give them much of a chance of achieving the legal thing that they’re asking for in the courts.”
Chicago wants new lawsuit to be heard by same judge who restricted agents’ response to protesters
In its new lawsuit seeking an order to effectively shut down enhanced Customs and Border Protection activity in Illinois, the state is asking for the case to be heard by a familiar face.
The plaintiffs say the new case should be heard by Illinois federal judge Sara Ellis – an Obama appointee – who was previously assigned to a case challenging immigration agents’ response to protesters and journalists in the Chicago area last year.
In that case, Ellis ordered agents to avoid using pepper balls and tear gas unless directly engaged by protesters and only after giving a clear verbal warning.
Ellis expressed frustration with Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino – the leader of Operation Midway Blitz – in her order, saying he “admitted in his deposition that he lied multiple times about the events that occurred in Little Village that prompted him to throw tear gas at protesters.”
That case is still technically pending, but the plaintiffs have asked for it to be dismissed because Operation Midway Blitz ended in November.
Cases are typically assigned to judges within a federal district at random, but Illinois argues their new lawsuit is “related” to the previous suit on protesters, giving Ellis authority to take it. Ellis has not yet decided whether the case should be moved to her court.
Minnesota says in lawsuit immigration agents have used “unlawful tactics.” What are the state's examples?
Minnesota’s new lawsuit against the Trump administration claims Operation Metro Surge is an unconstitutional retaliation against the state for political reasons, but it also says federal agents have used “unlawful tactics” that “undermine public trust in state and local law enforcement.”
Here are some of the cited examples:
- Arrest and chokehold of Somali American: One week after the operation was first announced in December, video showed a 20-year-old Somali American man being forced into a Minneapolis building and restrained as he tried to prove he is a US citizen. One agent put the man – identified as Mubashir – into a chokehold while he was on his knees. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agents had “reasonable suspicion” after Mubashir “fled from law enforcement.”
- Use of pepper spray and force at protest outside school: Hours after Renee Good was killed by a Border Patrol officer during a confrontation, Border Patrol and protesters clash at Minneapolis’ Roosevelt High School, resulting in people being tackled and hit with pepper spray. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said protesters were “assaulting agents.” Classes for the public school district were cancelled for the rest of the week.
- Border Patrol agent cites accent in stop: In an edited video posted to social media, a man who identifies himself as an Uber driver says an agent demanded to whether he is a citizen. When he asks another agent with a Border Patrol uniform why he is under suspicion, the agent responds, “I could hear you don’t have the same accent as me. That’s why I’m asking.”
- Agents fire on undocumented man in SUV: The chaotic attempt to arrest a man later identified as an undocumented immigrant from Cuba ends with an agent firing two shots at the vehicle. DHS says the man had rammed his car into an ICE vehicle and hit the officer who opened fire, resulting in the “defensive shots fired.” The suspect was not injured.
Around 1,000 more immigration agents headed to Minneapolis
Around 1,000 more US Customs and Border Protection agents are expected to deploy to Minneapolis in the wake of last week’s shooting involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer that left a mother of three dead, according to two federal law enforcement sources.
The agents started deploying Friday and continued over the weekend, one of the sources said, coming on top of the deployment of about 2,000 federal agents to the area that CNN reported early last week.
CBP Commander Gregory Bovino has already been on the ground with hundreds of agents and has been conducting targeted operations, including door knocks, one of the sources said. Documents provided to those who receive door knocks are either administrative warrants – signed by an immigration officer but without the same legal weight as a judicial warrant – or copies of their final orders of removal.
Minnesota attorney general says ICE "doing far more than" immigration enforcement
Minnesota’s lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a federal judge to end Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities, is not intended to cripple the ability of ICE to carry out its duties, Attorney General Keith Ellison said Monday.
“Quite honestly, we need ICE to just do what ICE is supposed to do, which is immigration enforcement,” Ellison told CNN’s Laura Coates last night. “They’re doing far more than that … by harassing people, by using excessive force on a routine basis.”
Administration officials initially cited investigations of fraud connected to billions of dollars of federal funds centered on the area’s Somali community in announcing the surge, but Ellison argues the issues aren’t connected.
“What we need is accountants, you know. We don’t need armed paramiltaries harassing students at Roosevelt High School,” he said. “We don’t need them going to grocery stores, Target stores, and throwing people to the ground.”
Tensions escalate in Minneapolis after ICE shooting left a woman dead
Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old US citizen, was killed when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot into her vehicle during an encounter last week.
Good crossed paths with a 10-year ICE officer and Iraq War veteran named Jonathan Ross, who was dragged about 100 yards six months prior by a driver during an immigration operation in a Minneapolis suburb.
Good and Ross — whose brief confrontation ended with him firing his weapon at least three times as she attempted to drive away — are now at the center of furious debate over President Donald Trump’s administration’s building immigration crackdown, each side angrily assigning blame to the other.
Videos of the incident are still emerging, and there’s more to be learned.
Federal officials, including Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, quickly accused Good of trying to use her vehicle to kill or harm ICE agents. She called it an “act of domestic terrorism.”
But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and state officials pushed back, blasting the actions of the officers. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called the shooting “totally predictable” and “totally avoidable.”
Minnesota and Twin Cities file lawsuit against Trump administration over immigration operations
The state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities are suing the Trump administration, arguing the widespread federal immigration operation in the state is “a federal invasion of the Twin Cities,” according to a lawsuit filed yesterday.
The suit is seeking a court order halting the operations, arguing the federal government is unlawfully commandeering state resources and violating Minnesota law and city ordinances.
The lawsuit also claims Operation Metro Surge is not a legitimate law enforcement action, but rather a retaliation effort against Democratic-led Minnesota, citing the president’s disparaging comments toward local officials.
It is the latest development in the monthslong spat between Minnesota officials and the federal government after President Donald Trump first ramped up immigration enforcement in the Minneapolis area in December.
More on the immigration operation: The federal government initially launched Operation Metro Surge, an immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, to target undocumented Somali immigrants but it has also led to the arrests of immigrants from other nations.
“DHS law enforcement have made over 2,000 arrests since Operation Metro Surge began,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Monday.
Thousands nationwide protested against ICE over the weekend after killing of Renee Good
Nationwide outcry over the killing of a Minneapolis woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week spilled into the streets of cities across the US over the weekend, with protesters demanding the removal of federal immigration authorities from their communities and justice for the slain Renee Good.
In Minneapolis, snow flurries drifted down as thousands of people gathered in parks, along residential streets and outside federal buildings, chanting Good’s name, whose death has become a focal point of national outrage over federal authorities’ tactics in US cities while carrying out President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
Similar protests unfolded across the US — from Los Angeles and New York to Washington, DC, El Paso and Boston. More than 1,000 demonstrations were planned across the country this weekend by the “ICE out for good” national coalition of advocacy groups.
“The response to ICE’s horrific killing of Renee Nicole Good is loud, peaceful, and inescapable,” coalition member group Indivisible said in a Saturday Facebook post accompanied by images of protests in multiple cities.
Protesters continued to take to the streets Sunday, demanding federal immigration officers be removed from their communities following the killing of Minneapolis woman Renee Good.
