The Minnesota ACLU is filing a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging racial profiling by ICE agents in the state.
Singh Mayell is the Executive Director and explains why.
"We know that this is not a normal time and that what we're seeing here in Minnesota is not normal law enforcement activity," Mayell said. "Since November we have witnessed increasing escalation of unconstitutional activity throughout the state."
Staff Attorney Cathrine Ahlin-Halverson calling out President Trump directly.
"He has repeatedly suggested that they are picking up Somali and Latino criminals when in reality they are harassing, stopping, and detaining hardworking Minnesotans in their neighborhoods," Ahlin-Halverson said at a press conference Thursday.
The suit names the Trump administration on behalf of three community members — and a class of similarly situated people — who the ACLU says had their constitutional rights violated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal agents.
“ICE and CBP’s practices are both illegal and morally reprehensible,” said Catherine Ahlin-Halverson, staff attorney with the ACLU of Minnesota. “Federal agents’ conduct — sweeping up Minnesotans through racial profiling and unlawful arrests — is a grave violation of Minnesotans’ most fundamental rights, and it has spread fear among immigrant communities and neighborhoods. No one, including federal agents, is above the law.”
According to the ACLU, plaintiff Mubashir Khalif Hussen is a 20-year-old U.S. citizen who they say was walking to lunch in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood on December 10, when he was stopped by multiple masked ICE agents.
When Hussen realized he was being stopped by ICE, he began repeating, “I’m a citizen. I’m a citizen.” But the agents refused to look at Hussen’s ID. The ACLU alleges ICE agents put Hussen into an SUV and drove him to the Whipple building in south Minneapolis. Only after being shackled, having his fingerprints taken, and showing a photo of his passport card to an individual at the Whipple building was Hussen let go.
“At no time did any officer ask me whether I was a citizen or if I had any immigration status,” said Hussen. “They did not ask for any identifying information, nor did they ask about my ties to the community, how long I had lived in the Twin Cities, my family in Minnesota, or anything else about my circumstances.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke an 1807 law and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against the federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration's massive immigration crackdown.
The threat comes a day after a man was shot and wounded by an immigration officer who had been attacked with a shovel and broom handle. That shooting further heightened the fear and anger that has radiated across the city since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good in the head.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law, to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement, over the objections of state governors.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison responded to Trump's post by saying he would challenge such an action in court. He's already suing to try to stop the surge by the Department of Homeland Security, which says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December. ICE is a DHS agency.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's office has confirmed to WCCO Radio that he is attempting to get ahold of President Trump. Walz is also convening business leaders, members of Congress, other governors and civic leaders to make an appeal to the administration to "reverse course and turn down the temperature."
The White House responded through Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt later on Thursday while taking questions from reporters about the situation in Minnesota, and whether or not President Trump would meet with Walz.
"Look, the president is always willing to answer the phone when people pick up and call," Leavitt explained. "When there was another tragic shooting many months ago in Governor Walz's state, he spoke directly with the governor. But I would ask that the governor stops inciting the harassment and illegal obstruction of law enforcement in his state. All ICE and federal law enforcement are trying to do are remove people like this off of the streets of Governor Walz's city in Minneapolis and of his state in Minnesota."
Leavitt confirmed that so far, no conversation has taken place.
"I'm not sure if that's a genuine offer to speak with the president," she added. "I was with the president about 30 minutes ago, and they hadn't spoken at that point."