Multiple federal lawsuits challenge Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s mass immigration enforcement operation that deployed approximately 3,000 armed federal agents to the Twin Cities beginning in December 2025. The operation killed two U.S. citizens, resulted in documented racial profiling of Somali and Latino Minnesotans, shut down schools and businesses, and inflicted an estimated $610 million in economic damage on Minneapolis and Saint Paul. A federal judge found in March 2026 that ICE adopted an unconstitutional policy of conducting investigatory stops based on race and ethnicity — on at least 23 documented occasions.The lawsuits span multiple plaintiffs and legal theories. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul filed the first case on January 12, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, Case No. 0:26-cv-00190, challenging the entire operation as unconstitutional. The ACLU and ACLU of Minnesota filed a separate class action, Hussen v. Noem, on January 15, 2026, targeting racial profiling and warrantless arrests. Additional lawsuits challenge ICE enforcement near schools, detainee due process rights, and evidence tampering at the scene of the second civilian killing. All five cases remain active as of May 2026. TL;DR — Quick SummaryWhat: Multiple lawsuits challenging Operation Metro Surge — the Trump administration’s mass ICE enforcement operation in Minnesota — for unconstitutional racial profiling, civilian deaths, Tenth Amendment violations, and denial of due process.Who: Minnesota AG Keith Ellison, cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, ACLU, community members, school districts, and detainees vs. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE, CBP, and federal officials.Status: Active — five separate cases ongoing; federal judge found racial profiling proven in March 2026; amended state complaint filed April 2026; Operation Metro Surge officially ended February 12, 2026.Injuries: Deaths of Renee Good (Jan. 7) and Alex Pretti (Jan. 24), both U.S. citizens; warrantless arrests; racial profiling; $610M in business losses; $243M in lost wages; $11M+ in police overtime.Settlement: None — lawsuits seek declaratory and injunctive relief and damages.Eligibility: Individuals stopped, detained, or arrested by ICE or CBP during Operation Metro Surge based on race or without probable cause may have civil rights claims.Key date: March 10, 2026 — Federal Judge Eric Tostrud finds ICE adopted unconstitutional racial profiling policy in Minnesota.Skip To Section Lawsuit Timeline and UpdatesDecember 2025 — Operation Metro Surge BeginsJanuary 7, 2026 — ICE Agent Shoots and Kills Renee GoodJanuary 12, 2026 — State and Cities File Federal LawsuitJanuary 15, 2026 — ACLU Files Class Action on Racial ProfilingJanuary 24, 2026 — Second U.S. Citizen Killed: Alex PrettiJanuary 31, 2026 — Court Denies Preliminary Injunction in State CaseFebruary 12, 2026 — Operation Metro Surge Officially EndsMarch 10, 2026 — Judge Finds ICE Adopted Unconstitutional Racial Profiling PolicyMarch and April 2026 — New Lawsuits, Amended Complaints, $610M Economic DamageWhat the Lawsuits AllegeWho Was Targeted and HowThe Killing of Renee GoodEconomic Damage to MinnesotaThe Administration’s DefenseWhat This Lawsuit Teaches ConsumersFrequently Asked QuestionsWhat is the Minnesota ICE lawsuit about?Who filed the lawsuits against Operation Metro Surge?What did the federal court find about ICE’s conduct in Minnesota?Who was Renee Good and why does her death matter to the lawsuit?How much economic damage did Operation Metro Surge cause?Did the courts stop Operation Metro Surge?What legal theories do the lawsuits use?Are the Minnesota ICE lawsuits still active?Related posts:Lawsuit Timeline and UpdatesDecember 2025 — Operation Metro Surge BeginsIn December 2025, the Trump administration launched Operation Metro Surge, deploying thousands of armed federal agents from ICE and Customs and Border Protection into the Twin Cities metropolitan area. DHS described the operation as targeting immigration enforcement and fraud related to the Feeding Our Future school food program, a major Minnesota fraud case that had been investigated since the first Trump administration.Community members and local officials immediately reported aggressive tactics. Armed and masked federal agents conducted sweeps in residential neighborhoods, stopped people on the street, and targeted locations in predominantly Somali and Latino communities including the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. Reports of racial profiling emerged within days. In one documented incident, an ICE agent told a detained individual: “I can hear you don’t have the same accent as me.”January 7, 2026 — ICE Agent Shoots and Kills Renee GoodOn January 7, 2026, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, in Minneapolis. Federal authorities stated that Good had tried to drive her car toward officers. Community witnesses, video footage, and subsequent accounts disputed that characterization. Good’s car was stopped sideways in the street when Ross approached, walked around the vehicle, and other agents joined. When Good briefly reversed and then moved forward, Ross fired. Good died at the scene.The killing immediately intensified opposition to the operation. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced the city would investigate, and the Minneapolis Police Department began tracking overtime costs linked to the surge. By January 9, MPD officers had already accumulated more than 3,000 hours of surge-related overtime, at an estimated cost exceeding $2 million for a four-day period.January 12, 2026 — State and Cities File Federal LawsuitMinnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, joined by Minneapolis and Saint Paul, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on January 12. The complaint alleged that Operation Metro Surge violated the First Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, the Constitution’s equal sovereignty guarantee between states, and the Administrative Procedure Act’s prohibition against arbitrary and capricious agency action.The plaintiffs argued the operation was not primarily about immigration enforcement but was a form of political retaliation against Minnesota. They noted that Minnesota’s non-citizen undocumented immigrant population — roughly 1.5% of the state — is less than half the national average. States like Texas, Florida, and Utah have substantially higher undocumented immigrant populations but received no comparable surge of agents. The complaint quoted Trump directly: on January 9, he called Minnesota “corrupt” and “crooked” because its officials accurately reported election results that did not declare him the winner.The lawsuit detailed the harm already documented: 76,000 residents too afraid to go to work or whose workplaces shut down; schools placed in lockdown; businesses reporting 50 to 80 percent revenue drops; local police spending thousands of overtime hours responding to surge-related incidents; emergency responders strained; and the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal agent five days earlier.January 15, 2026 — ACLU Files Class Action on Racial ProfilingThree days later, the ACLU and ACLU of Minnesota, along with Covington and Burling LLP, Greene Espel PLLP, and Robins Kaplan LLP, filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on behalf of three named Minnesotans and a class of similarly situated people. The case, Hussen v. Noem, challenged ICE and CBP’s practice of conducting suspicionless stops, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling — arguing these violated the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection guarantee.The lead plaintiff, 20-year-old Mubashir Hussen, is a U.S. citizen of Somali descent. He was detained by masked ICE agents who refused to look at his U.S. passport card until after they had him in detention. He was also pepper-sprayed for recording federal agents as they drove past him. A second plaintiff, a Latino man, was tackled by Border Patrol agents, driven around in their vehicle, and left sobbing on the ground in a Walmart parking lot after agents finally examined his passport. A third Somali Minnesotan was detained along with his mother while he worked to shovel his car out to get to his overnight job as a personal care assistant.January 24, 2026 — Second U.S. Citizen Killed: Alex PrettiOn January 24, 2026, a second American citizen, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, was fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis. The killing occurred amid ongoing enforcement activity and further escalated public outrage. A third shooting involving a Venezuelan man, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, had also occurred on January 14, after the FBI revealed that ICE had initially pursued him due to mistaken identity.By late January, massive protests had swept Minnesota. On January 23, tens of thousands of Minnesotans demonstrated in subzero temperatures across the state. Hundreds of businesses closed in solidarity. A broader general strike movement emerged. President Trump announced the formal drawdown of Operation Metro Surge on February 12, 2026.January 31, 2026 — Court Denies Preliminary Injunction in State CaseA federal judge denied the state and cities’ request for a preliminary injunction to immediately halt Operation Metro Surge on January 31, 2026. AG Ellison acknowledged the setback but was direct: the case was continuing. “This case is in its infancy and there is much legal road in front of us,” he said. The court found plaintiffs had made a showing of racial profiling and unconstitutional tactics but concluded that plaintiffs had not demonstrated the ongoing and imminent harm necessary for emergency injunctive relief, given the evident drawdown of federal agents.February 12, 2026 — Operation Metro Surge Officially EndsTrump administration border czar Tom Homan announced the formal end of Operation Metro Surge on February 12, 2026. ICE sightings by community monitors declined sharply in the weeks that followed. Enforcement activity continued in communities outside Minneapolis at a reduced pace, and enforcement flights decreased. The operation had resulted in the deaths of two American citizens, the shooting of a third man through mistaken identity, and the traumatization of an entire metropolitan region.March 10, 2026 — Judge Finds ICE Adopted Unconstitutional Racial Profiling PolicyFederal Judge Eric Tostrud issued a landmark 110-page ruling in the Hussen v. Noem class action on March 10, 2026. His conclusion was clear: “I conclude that Plaintiffs have made a clear showing that Defendants have adopted a policy authorizing federal immigration officers to conduct investigatory stops based on ethnicity or race without reasonable suspicion that the individuals were violating immigration laws. The evidence from individual encounters is compelling and troubling.”Tostrud reviewed 34 documented cases in which U.S. citizens and legal immigrants alleged racial profiling. He found that agents acted on legitimate other evidence in five cases. On 23 occasions, the evidence showed detention based solely on race or ethnicity. Among the documented incidents was one involving former Operation Metro Surge commander Greg Bovino, who was present when ICE detained two Americans — including a 17-year-old Hispanic boy — at a Target store in Richfield. The judge found that teenager was detained only because of his ethnicity.The federal government provided almost no rebuttal witness testimony, which the judge noted “leaves almost all of Plaintiff’s declaration testimony undisputed.” Despite the finding, Tostrud declined to issue a preliminary injunction, concluding that plaintiffs had not shown a substantial risk of future harm given that most named plaintiffs had not been arrested a second time and the surge had wound down. The ACLU’s legal team called the ruling significant: a court-issued finding that ICE ran an unconstitutional racial profiling operation in Minnesota.March and April 2026 — New Lawsuits, Amended Complaints, $610M Economic DamageThe state of Minnesota filed an amended complaint on April 20, 2026, expanding the legal theory to ask a court to declare Operation Metro Surge itself unlawful — not just specific conduct within it. The amended complaint reiterated Tenth Amendment violations, argued the surge was retaliatory political targeting of a Democratic state, and documented the full scope of economic harm.According to the amended complaint, Operation Metro Surge caused combined business losses of $610 million in Minneapolis and Saint Paul: over $440 million in Minneapolis and more than $165 million in Saint Paul. The filing documented approximately $243 million in lost wages across the two cities, with $189 million in Minneapolis alone. Minneapolis police racked up over $6 million in overtime between January 7 and the end of March. Saint Paul police spent nearly $5 million directly tied to federal immigration activity between November 2025 and February 2026.Separately, two Minnesota school districts — Duluth Public Schools and Fridley Public Schools — and the Education Minnesota teachers union filed suit in February 2026 challenging Trump’s 2025 policy change allowing immigration enforcement at K-12 school grounds. A federal judge declined on May 6 to immediately halt school-zone enforcement, but the case continues. A third additional lawsuit was filed by The Advocates for Human Rights on behalf of detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, alleging Fifth Amendment due process violations including denial of phone calls, attorney access, and improper transfers. That case secured preliminary injunctions in February and March 2026; a pretrial conference is scheduled for May 18, 2026.The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension also sued federal officials over evidence tampering, alleging federal agents denied BCA investigators access to the scene of the second civilian killing, allowed potential evidence to be spoiled, then removed evidence and took it with them. Defendants had until May 21, 2026 to respond to that complaint.What the Lawsuits AllegeThe state and cities’ lawsuit rests primarily on three constitutional theories. First, the Tenth Amendment: the operation commandeered state and local law enforcement resources by forcing them to spend thousands of hours on surge-related public safety responses — policing the chaos created by federal agents rather than their normal duties. The Tenth Amendment reserves police powers to the states, and the plaintiffs argue the federal government cannot conscript state resources for federal enforcement without consent.Second, equal sovereignty: the Constitution requires that states be treated equally by the federal government. The administration targeted Minnesota — with its below-average undocumented immigrant population — while leaving states with far higher percentages of undocumented r