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Minnesota has sued the Trump administration for its sweeping immigration operation in Minneapolis
Josh Marcus in San Francisco Wednesday 14 January 2026 21:31 GMT- Bookmark
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CloseMinnesota sues Trump administration over immigration operations that has ‘terrorized’ Minneapolis
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The Department of Justice sued Minnesota Wednesday, alleging the illegal use of affirmative action in government hiring, in the latest ratcheting up of tensions between the Trump administration and the state.
The suit, filed in Minnesota federal court, comes amid an ongoing immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and after the fatal shooting of a mother-of-three by an ICE agent.
The filing alleges that the state’s hiring policies, seeking to recruit people from under-represented groups, violate the Civil Rights Act’s prohibitions on discrimination.
“This is discriminatory DEI codified into bad state policy, and the Trump Administration will not stand for it,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X, announcing the legal action.
The DOJ alleges that Minnesota directs agencies to base hiring decisions in part based on how they match demographics in the larger community, and orders agencies not meeting diversity goals to “justify” non-affirmative action hires.
open image in galleryThe Trump administration has been cracking down on Minnesota since December, a widening crisis that has involved the fatal shooting of Renee Good, allegations of mass fraud, frozen federal funds, and a number of lawsuits (AFP/Getty)Bondi has marked the case as high-priority, meaning it is eligible for fast-track appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Independent has contacted the governor and attorney general of Minnesota for comment.
The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a rapidly-escalating standoff between the Trump administration and Minnesota, which sued the administration Monday to stop the ongoing mass immigration operation in the state.
Last week, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, 37, who had stopped her vehicle on a street where community members were protesting an immigration operation.
The shooting set off protests nationwide and has provoked a sharply partisan response. Trump administration officials and their allies have claimed Good as a “domestic terrorist” who tried to kill the officer. Democrats and Minneapolis officials say there isn’t any evidence of this and that video of the incident suggests Good was trying to leave the scene when she was shot in the head by agent Jonathan Ross.
State officials have accused the federal government of blocking their ability to investigate the shooting alongside the FBI. A group of top federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned this week, reportedly over what they said was Justice Department pressure to investigate Good’s widow. (The Trump administration says the departures are unrelated to the shooting.)
open image in galleryThe state of Minnesota and the Trump administration have been locked in an escalating standoff since December, and the recent fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent set off widespread protests (Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images)Good’s killing is the latest chapter in a political crisis that has engulfed the state since late last year.
President Donald Trump frequently speaks in degrading terms about Minnesota’s large Somali immigrant population, and ICE launched an operation in December that involved raids in a heavily Somali neighborhood in Minneapolis.
The crackdown picked up momentum when a viral video claimed widespread fraud was taking place at Somali-owned daycare centers in the city. Soon, roughly 2,000 immigration agents from ICE, Border Patrol, and Homeland Security descended on the Twin Cities, a number that has since increased.
Local officials have said many claims in the video aren’t accurate, but the Trump administration cited the clip as part of its decision to surge more immigration agents to the state and to freeze federal childcare funds to a series of Democratic-led jurisdictions, including Minnesota.
Earlier this month, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was the Democrats’ nominee for vice president against the Trump 2024 ticket, announced that he would not seek a third term for governor.
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