ACLU sues Trump administration over alleged racial profiling in Minnesota

The ACLU of Minnesota has filed a class-action lawsuit saying ICE and other federal agents engaged in racial profiling and unlawful seizures in Minneapolis; the Department of Homeland Security says the deployments target fraud, theft and drug trafficking.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of three Minneapolis residents. The complaint says Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents carried out enforcement actions that disproportionately affected Somali and Latino communities. The Department of Homeland Security has defended the deployments, saying they are intended to apprehend fraudsters, thieves and drug traffickers. The filing comes amid several other legal and political responses in Minnesota following recent federal enforcement activity. What is known: - The ACLU of Minnesota filed a class-action suit alleging racial profiling and unlawful seizures and arrests by ICE and other federal agents in Minneapolis. - The lawsuit contends arrests and detentions occurred without warrants or probable cause and cites violations of equal protection and protections against unreasonable searches. - The Department of Homeland Security says the operations in Minneapolis aim to address fraud, theft and drug-related crime and are justified on public safety grounds. - The ACLU recounts an incident in December in which a Minneapolis resident says he was stopped by multiple officers, taken to a federal facility, fingerprinted and later released after showing identification. - Other legal and political responses are reported, including a separate suit by Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul to halt an enforcement surge and additional civil actions related to a recent fatal encounter involving an ICE agent. Summary: The ACLU lawsuit formalizes claims that recent federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis involved racial profiling and unlawful detentions, while federal officials maintain the actions were aimed at criminal suspects. Multiple related legal and political actions are underway. Undetermined at this time.