Attorney General Bonta Leads Amicus Brief Challenging Militarized and Illegal Deployments in Minnesota

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a coalition of 20 attorneys general, yesterday filed an amicus brief in support of Minnesota’s lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s extraordinary campaign of lawlessness during its deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol to the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Over the course of just a few weeks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sent more than 3,000 federal agents into the area. These agents have fatally shot one resident, Renee Good, seriously wounded others, attacked peaceful protestors, and systematically conducted unconstitutional stops and arrests. In the brief, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition urge the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to order an immediate halt to the federal government’s lawless actions — actions that are visiting unacceptable harm on Minnesota, its cities, and people, and show unprecedented disregard for foundational constitutional principles. 

“These aggressive and militaristic tactics sanctioned by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and carried out by CBP Commander Greg Bovino blatantly disregard well-established policing norms, state sovereignty, and the sanctity of life,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Just days after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we are continuing his fight and core belief that an injustice against one is an injustice against all. I urge the court to block the Trump Administration’s lawless actions. As the President himself has said, Minnesota is just the beginning, and if left unchecked, he will no doubt go into and threaten the safety, autonomy, and well-being of more states and communities.”

Beginning in December 2025, DHS began to threaten an escalation in enforcement targeting Minnesota and the Twin Cities area. One operation, dubbed “Operation Metro Surge” — what ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons has called the agency’s “largest immigration operation ever” — follows Donald Trump’s campaign promise of an aggressive mass deportation program that would be the largest in American history. Throughout the operation, public reporting has indicated that Secretary Noem has deployed as many as 3,000 federal immigration officers to Minnesota. Of that number, 2,000 are ICE personnel, hundreds are Border Patrol agents, and others are from U.S. Justice Department agencies. More recently, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, and it is reported that the Pentagon is possibly preparing to deploy 1,500 troops to Minnesota. These actions have endangered public safety, with local law enforcement agencies being forced to divert large portions of their forces to respond to unrest caused by the federal officers.  

Since Minnesota filed its lawsuit, violence by ICE agents has only escalated. Just one week after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a federal law enforcement officer in Minneapolis shot another person in the leg. ICE also exploded a tear gas canister underneath a car carrying a couple and six children, trapping them inside their vehicle, rendering a six-month old child unconscious, and requiring a mother to administer CPR to her infant child. This extreme conduct is ripping at the fabric of society and every aspect of daily life for Minnesotans is being affected. Pregnant women are afraid to go to their prenatal appointments for fear that they or their loved ones will be detained by federal agents. Vibrant shopping centers have turned into ghost towns, and businesses report 50% to 80% in revenue losses due to the presence of immigration officers. As a result of the threats to public safety caused by DHS, more than 100 schools were temporarily shut down in the Minneapolis Public School system, affecting 30,000 children, and school attendance continues to drop with families afraid to send their kids to school.

In their brief, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that a temporary restraining order is important to protect the public from these deliberately aggressive and unlawful immigration enforcement practices. They highlight that these tactics threaten sovereign powers — like policing and promoting the public safety, health, and welfare of the people — that the Constitution reserves for the states. 

Attorney General Bonta is committed to fighting the Trump Administration’s unlawful militarized tactics. He previously led a coalition in filing an amicus brief opposing unlawful immigration stops in the Central Valley and led a multistate coalition in seeking a temporary restraining order to stop ICE and CBP from engaging in unlawful practices in Los Angeles. Attorney General Bonta recently secured a separate decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ending the continued federalization and deployment of California National Guard troops in and around Los Angeles. 

In filing the brief, Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.