Tensions flare in Minnesota as protesters, federal agents square off

Days of demonstrations against United States immigration agents have left Minnesota on edge.

Federal authorities have used tear gas to disperse whistle-blowing activists, and state and local leaders filed a lawsuit on Monday to challenge an enforcement crackdown that led to the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman last week.

Confrontations between federal agents and protesters lasted throughout Monday and spanned multiple cities. Agents fired tear gas in Minneapolis as a crowd gathered around immigration officers questioning a man while in St Cloud, a city to the northwest, hundreds of people protested outside a strip of Somali-run businesses after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrived.

Later that night, clashes broke out between protesters and officers guarding the federal building being used as a base for the crackdown in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul.

With the Department of Homeland Security pledging to send more than 2,000 immigration officers into Minnesota in what ICE has described as its largest enforcement operation ever, the state, joined by Minneapolis and St Paul, sued the Trump administration to try to halt or limit the surge.

The lawsuit says the Department of Homeland Security is violating the First Amendment and other constitutional protections. It accuses President Donald Trump’s Republican administration of violating free speech rights by targeting a progressive state that favours Democrats and welcomes immigrants.

Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since December.

In the days since Renee Nicole Good was shot in the head on Wednesday by an ICE officer while behind the wheel of her SUV, there have been dozens of protests and vigils across the US to honour the 37-year-old mother of three and to fiercely criticise the Trump administration’s tactics.

In response to Monday’s lawsuit, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin accused Minnesota officials of neglecting public safety.

The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the immigration agent who shot Good, saying she and her vehicle presented a threat. But that explanation has been widely rejected by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and others who have cited videos of the confrontation.