The new Minnesota legislative session just three weeks away and DFL state lawmakers plan to introduce a bill in response to the violence that has taken place in Minneapolis this month.
Minneapolis State Representative Jamie Long says the bill would allow Minnesotans to sue the federal government if they feel their constitutional rights have been violated.
"This is already available for Minnesotans under what's called a 1983 action to bring it against state and local actors, but there's no equivalent right now for bringing these types of cases against federal actors," explains Rep. Long.
He says the bill would apply to family members whose loved ones were shot and killed by federal agents, or even people who were injured or had their car windows smashed by federal officers. It would also allow them to seek compensation and damages.
"The family members, or just individuals who've had their car windows bashed out, their doors broken in or have been injured, otherwise, to bring a claim and seek compensation and damages," Long said.
Long earlier told WCCO Radio that lawmakers in the upcoming session will not be able to ignore the federal government's presence across the state. And he expects it to be fairly contentious.
"We certainly hope that ICE is gone by the time we get back in session," Long adds. "That's our call today. But if they're not, right, this could be happening in real time while we're in session. And we could be confronting this continued invasion of our state and the continued unconstitutional illegal actions that we're seeing affront our citizens."
The new session begins February 17.