Minnesota Sues Over Alleged DHS/ICE ‘Surge’ Tactics (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law. We allege that the surge reckless impact on our schools, on our local law enforcement is a violation of the amendment and the sovereign laws and powers of the Constitution grants to states. We allege that DHS's use of excessive and lethal force, their warrantless racist arrests, their targeting of our courts, our churches, houses of worship and schools are a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act on arbitrary and capricious federal actions and we ask that the courts will end the surge of thousands of DHS agents into Minnesota. We ask the courts to end the DHS unlawful behavior in our state, the intimidation, the threats, the violence. We ask the courts to end the tactics on our places of worship, our schools, our courts, our marketplaces, our hospitals and even funeral homes. The deployment of thousands of armed mass DHS agents to Minnesota has done our state serious harm. This is in essence a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota and it must stop. DHS agents have sown chaos and terror across the metropolitan area and in cities across the state of Minnesota. Schools have gone on to lockdown. Entire districts have had to cancel school for tens of thousands of students to ensure safety and offer online education because of the students and the parents fear of coming into the school. Local businesses are struggling, revenues are down and some retail stores, daycares and restaurants have actually closed because people are afraid to go out and to do their shopping whether they're immigrants or whether they are citizens of many generations. This surge has made us less safe. Thousands of poorly trained, aggressive and armed agents of the state of the federal government have rolled into our communities, overwhelmed our local police departments and law enforcement agencies should be focused on our public safety but instead many are dealing with the aftermath of DHS agents chaos and violence. I want to thank our law enforcement officers for doing a tremendous job under very difficult circumstances, not the people but the federal government. Minneapolis police have had to respond to more than 220, excuse me, 20 ICE-related incidents like witnesses seeking people being pulled into unmarked vehicles by men in masks or ICE abandoning vehicles on the street with people detained inside. This is an unlawful commandeering of police resources. In just two days responding to the chaos ICE has caused by has cost the city two billion dollars in law enforcement and overtime expenses. Two days and I wish I could stop there but I can't because these poorly trained, aggressive and armed agents of the of the federal state have terrorized Minnesota with widespread unlawful conduct. They're acting they're making unconstitutional arrests and using excessive force. DHS agents have barged into restaurants asking to access secure areas and when asked to present a warrant which is required by law they respond we don't need one. DHS agents have arrested peaceful bystanders they have fired chemical irritants at people obeying lawful lawful orders while exercising their first amendment rights. They have even done so at some of our most sensitive places like Roosevelt High School here in Minneapolis. They have detained law-abiding citizens leaving them handcuffed for hours just because of the color of their skin or what they're wearing or they speak English with an accent and on January 7, 2026 a DHS agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good leaving her children without a mother and her six-year-old son without either parent. This has to stop. So let's be clear it never should have started. These agents have no good reason to be here. Minnesota Minnesota's non-citizen immigrant population is just one and a half percent which is half the national average. Our state's percentage is lower than Utah Texas and Florida's but none of those states have thousands of federal agents swarming their streets or harming their people. The administration says that they're focused on finding criminals worst of the worst they say but many of the people the DHS is arresting in Minnesota have no criminal history. That fits a pattern. In 2025, 93 percent of the people arrested by ICE had no violent criminal history. 65 percent had no criminal convictions at all and randomly stopping people in the street because their skin color isn't the one that they expect or want isn't doing a thing to help public safety.

[00:05:40] Speaker 2: You've been listening to authorities in Minnesota launching a lawsuit against the Trump administration over immigration enforcement actions in both the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul the Twin Cities. This comes after sources tell CNN that about a thousand additional ICE officers are heading into the Twin Cities region. We're also learning that the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security alleging that the agency has terrorized residents in organized bombardment in their words. Let's bring in Sheriff Christopher Swanson. He's a Democratic candidate for governor in Michigan. We brought him in to speak about last week's deadly shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent and obviously we want to now talk to him about this lawsuit. Sheriff, what is your reaction to the lawsuit in Minnesota against the Trump administration?

[00:06:34] Speaker 3: Yeah, what other option do they have? And they're trying to use the legal process, which is due process, which actually is the example that should be used that got us in this situation in the first place. If things were done fair and humane without cruelty, we wouldn't have the situation that we have. And unfortunately, I don't think this is the end of it.

[00:06:54] Speaker 2: You called last week's ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis a shooting of Renee Good tragic but predictable. You criticized the tactics that ICE used both before and after the shooting. I want you to take a listen to my interview, part of my interview with the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem yesterday, about the ICE officer who appeared to have fired three shots at Renee Good. Take a listen. What is the reason for the second and third shot through the window when he is out, he's not in the line of sight of the car?

[00:07:23] Speaker 4: This investigation will continue to unfold and more and more information will come forward. But until that comes, what I would appreciate is everybody sticking to the facts of the situation and recognize that this law enforcement officer took action based on his training to protect himself and the public.

[00:07:39] Speaker 2: Sheriff Swanson, is it relevant, the second and third shot, the first shot being through the front windshield, the second and third being through Renee Good's side window? Obviously, he's no longer in the path of the car.

[00:07:53] Speaker 3: You're spot on, Jake. The bottom left corner of the windshield was the first round. And then the two rounds that were punched in on the side of the window through the driver's side, the danger is no longer in front of you. It's cleared it to the side. And that's my criticism. And you know what? I think the bigger issue is you can be critical of law enforcement actions and still support the police. I am the police. But that situation and that shooting, there was no de-escalation, went from verbal orders to deadly force in three seconds to somebody who was unarmed, turning away at two miles an hour with people surrounding the vehicle with whistles.

[00:08:26] Speaker 2: Presumably, at least in part because of this controversy over the weekend, ICE put out publicly a list of some of the criminal undocumented immigrants they have arrested in Minnesota. Some of them have been convicted of sexual assault, of children, rape, domestic violence, homicide. So they are getting criminals. They are getting people off the streets who shouldn't be on the streets. What did you make of that?

[00:08:52] Speaker 3: I agree with that. If people are here undocumented and committing crimes against American citizens, just like we did in our ghostings that two individuals from Honduras come here to have sex with an underage kid, they're gone. But the majority of the people that are here trying to make a better life, that have never committed a crime, that have never had a situation, that are trying to do the right thing, yet the process takes years, why don't we focus on those people, give them a pathway to become American citizens? This is where the lines are blurred. Not everybody are the people that you just listed.

[00:09:23] Speaker 2: What do you say to people who argue that ICE and federal agents, they're not local police, therefore their trainings are different, the way they deal with protesters is different, and therefore authorities like you, a sheriff in Michigan, might not necessarily know their practices.

[00:09:44] Speaker 3: You're right. I mean, federal law enforcement is much different than local law enforcement. Nobody knows their community better than local law enforcement, state, county, and local sheriffs from cities and townships here in Michigan. And when you have tactics, it's not just the effecting of the arrest or raids like you see right here. These are relationships that are built when you're not answering 911 calls, when you're helping people out, when you're going to medical calls. So when things are intense, you do it in a way that when those moments happen, there's a public trust. But when there's law enforcement making decisions, no matter what the level, we're the only profession that now we're all painted with the same brush. That example of how this is being played out is not who we are. But local law enforcement does not wear masks, we wear identifications to make sure people know who we are, we communicate, and trust me, we're still in violent situations. You as a police officer, me for 33 years, you know, we are in the dangerous situations, but you can't shoot everybody that puts you in a situation of danger. That's our job.