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Minnesota sues federal government to try to end deployment of immigration agents

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Minnesota sues federal government to try to end deployment of immigration agents


Officials in Minnesota are suing the federal government in an attempt to stop the deployment of thousands of immigration agents to Minnesota, the state’s top prosecutor said Monday.

“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,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference.

Calling the deployment a federal “invasion of the Twin Cities,” he said: “This has to stop.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, includes the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as plaintiffs and names officials with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection as defendants.

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In a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin accused Ellison of “prioritizing politics over public safety” and said he and other “sanctuary politicians” were the reason the department had to surge immigration agents to the state.

“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law — no matter who your mayor, governor, or state attorney general is,” she said.

“This pathetic stunt only proves that Democrats will put illegal criminals over hardworking Americans every time,” a White House spokeswoman said in a separate statement.

Speaking at Monday’s news conference, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey cited the number of police officers in his city — 600 — and called the deployment of thousands of federal immigration officers “wildly disproportionate.”

“At times, there are as many as 50 agents arresting one person,” he said, adding: “We’re feeling the impact here in Minneapolis. Schools have closed. People are afraid to go to work, shop or seek medical care. 911 calls are up. Police resources are indeed stretched thin.”

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St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, whose family fled Laos for the United States when she was 3, told reporters that she’s carrying her passport and ID with her at all times.

“I don’t know when I’m going to be detained,” she said.

The complaint was filed one day after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that hundreds more federal officers are heading to the state amid protests over the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.

Noem said that the federal operation in the state is now focused not just on targeting alleged violations of immigration law but on tackling ICE-related protests.

Noem has described Good, a prize-winning poet, as a terrorist who “weaponized” her vehicle against the ICE officer who fatally shot her in self-defense. Local and state officials have disputed that claim, saying that Good, 37, was only trying to leave the scene and calling federal officials’ characterization “propaganda.”

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Good was in the driver’s seat of an SUV in a residential part of Minneapolis on Jan. 7 when she was killed. Video obtained by NBC News that appears to have been recorded by Jonathan Ross, the officer who shot Good, captured Good and her wife talking to the officer in the moments before he opened fire.

Video from eyewitnesses shows officers telling Good to get out of her car before she begins driving away. Multiple gunshots can be heard and the SUV slams into a parked vehicle.

Officials in Minnesota have criticized federal authorities for barring the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation examining Good’s death. Asked about the move last week, Noem accused state investigators of allowing people to harass and incite violence against federal officers.

The Trump administration began ramping up immigration-related arrests in Minnesota in December, after conservative commentators focused on a years-old scandal in which federal prosecutors uncovered a sprawling fraud scheme in the Somali community.

Last week, more than 2,000 officers and agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations were deployed to the city after a right wing influencer accused several Somali-run day cares of fraud. The allegations were investigated by state officials who said they found no evidence to back up the claims.

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Illinois also sued the Trump administration Monday, alleging in a federal lawsuit that immigration agents deployed in the city are using “unlawful and dangerous tactics.”

“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining Constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

In a statement, a White House spokeswoman said the suit “reads like a far left manifesto” that seeks to “smear law enforcement officers and incite violence against them. Democrat politicians must stop siding with criminal illegal aliens over American law enforcement.”



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Minnesota Duluth’s Max Plante wins men’s college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award

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Minnesota Duluth’s Max Plante wins men’s college hockey’s Hobey Baker Award


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Minnesota Duluth sophomore forward Max Plante is the winner of the 2026 Hobey Baker Award as the top player in men’s college hockey.

He edged fellow finalists, T.J. Hughes, a senior forward from Michigan, and Eric Pohlkamp, a junior defenseman from the University of Denver.

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Plante scored 25 goals and had 52 points in 40 games in his second season with the Bulldogs. The 2024 second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings finished third in NCAA Division I scoring behind Quinnipiac’s Ethan Wyttenbach (59) and Hughes (57).

He’s the first Minnesota Duluth player to win the award since Scott Perunovich in 2020 and the seventh overall.

Plante’s father, former NHL player Derek Plante, also played for Minnesota Duluth and was a Hobey Baker top 10 finalist in 1993.

Michigan State’s Trey Augustine was named the top goaltender in the Friday, April 10 ceremony. He went 24-9-1 for the Spartans with a 2.11 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.

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Wyttenbach was named college hockey’s rookie of the year.

Recent Hobey Baker Award winners

  • 2026: F Max Plante, Minnesota Duluth
  • 2025: F Isaac Howard, Michigan State
  • 2024: F Macklin Celebrini, Boston University
  • 2023: F Adam Fantilli, Michigan
  • 2022: G Dryden McKay, Minnesota State
  • 2021: F Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
  • 2020: D Scott Perunovich, Minnesota Duluth
  • 2019: D Cale Makar, UMass
  • 2018: F Adam Gaudette, Northeastern
  • 2017: D Will Butcher, Denver
  • 2016: F Jimmy Vesey, Harvard



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New strain of COVID detected in 25 states including Minnesota

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New strain of COVID detected in 25 states including Minnesota


(St. Paul, MN) — State health officials are keeping an eye on a highly mutated new COVID variant called B-A 3-dot-2, or “cicada.” Minnesota Department of Health Epidemiologist Keeley Morris says, “With that many mutations it’s likely going to be pretty good at evading any immunity that people have from being vaccinated or also from prior COVID-19 infections.” She says the good news is that B-A 3-dot-2 doesn’t seem to be causing more severe illness. The C-D-C says the “cicada” variant has been detected in at least 25 states. Morris says Minnesota has detected three cases of either B-A 3-dot-2 or some of its descendants, and we also had one site that had a positive wastewater detection.



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Community members show up to support Mercado Central, businesses hit hard by ICE surge

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Community members show up to support Mercado Central, businesses hit hard by ICE surge



Mercado Central on Lake Street in Minneapolis has been more than a marketplace; it’s a heartbeat, a place filled with food, culture and community. During Operation Metro Surge, that heartbeat slowed.

“We’re a co-op. We’re all business owners that just need support from our community,” Ajeleth Moreno with El Rincon Pupuseria said.

Many regular customers stopped coming and the change was impossible to ignore.

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“Our regulars would not be here at all in the beginning months, but we did get really good support for the community,” Joscan Moreno said.

That community is showing up with purpose.

“I think it’s important to set an example and to show other community members that we are still here. We still need to be showing up and there’s so many beautiful examples of resilience out here today,” Rose Gomez said.

Through a wave of community support, online donations, to simply having people walk into their doors again.

“These places are few and far between, I don’t know if I know of any place exactly like this,” Simon Fitzkappes said. “And for our community to lose such a great spot, it’s really detrimental. We all hope that doesn’t happen.”

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Because here, the business owners and diners alike say every visit and dollar matters.

“We’ve never got this many people here,” Ajeleth Moreno said. “We just hope it stays that way because we don’t want to be forgotten again.”



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