Minnesota Sues Federal Government Over 'Invasion' by Immigration Agents
Plus: Hundreds dead as Iran cracks down on protests. Fed chair stands firm in face of unprecedented DOJ investigation. US allies prepare for an attack by... the US. And who won at the Golden Globes.
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Hi everyone. What a world. Last year I interviewed law professor Aziz Huq about the concept of a dual state. (You can watch it here.) That’s a legal reality in which the law is strictly enforced against ordinary citizens, but used as a shield to protect agents of the state who act with impunity. It certainly seems we are moving closer to that reality, if we’re not already there. Today Minnesota filed suit to get us back in line with the rule of law.
In today’s newsletter: Minnesota sues to get ICE out. In Iran, mass execution of protesters. Trump sues the head of the Fed and gets pushback. Plus the latest on Greenland, Venezuela, and the Golden Globes.
Here Are Your Headlines
Iceout: Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul on Monday sued the federal government in an attempt to stop its ongoing, unprecedented immigration operation in the state. The lawsuit argues the operation is a “federal invasion” that is unconstitutionally targeting Minnesota over its Democratic politics. They say the federal government is violating state sovereignty and the First Amendment by retaliating against the state for its politics. They also claim the feds are creating “chaos and despair,” making communities unsafe. They’re asking for a temporary restraining order to force ICE to leave or limit their operations. This follows a similar lawsuit filed on Monday by Illinois, which accuses the Trump administration of terrorizing residents with unlawful force amounting to an “organized bombardment.”
Surge: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says that DHS is deploying “hundreds more” immigration agents to Minneapolis. This could bring the total ICE presence there to 3,000 officers, roughly five times the size of the city’s police force. Videos corroborated by additional reporting show ICE agents bursting into a home without a warrant, storming a gas station, and grabbing people and protesters off the street. Noem claims the surge is necessary to root out fraud in Minnesota, despite the vast majority of those charged being US citizens and the state’s lawsuit noting that ICE agents have no expertise combatting fraud; CBP Commander Gregory Bovino argued it was needed for “effective, unabated Title 8 immigration enforcement.”
Context: Protests over ICE’s use of force erupted across the country, including in front of the White House, with tens of thousands marching in Minneapolis alone.
Lack of Transparency: State and local officials have raised alarms about the Trump administration’s investigation of Good’s death, considering how fiercely senior officials are attempting to justify ICE agent Jonathan Ross’ actions. According to Hennepin county’s attorney and prosecutor, by the time Minnesota’s investigative agency arrived on the scene of the shooting, “the evidence had been taken by the FBI.” According to Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), the Trump administration subsequently blocked “state investigators from participating in any way in this investigation,” a situation she described as an attempted “cover-up.” The DOJ’s Civil Rights division is reportedly not involved in the investigation. “Whatever outcome this investigation produces,” former ICE chief John Sandweg said, “I don’t see how anyone’s gonna believe it.”
Above the Law: Meanwhile, Vice President Vance claimed Ross “is protected by absolute immunity.” Experts call this “absolutely ridiculous.” Qualified immunity only protects officials from actions that don’t violate “clearly established law”. But state prosecutors will struggle to pursue the case without federal support, let alone against active federal interference.
Shoot First: 2025 was the deadliest year in decades for those unfortunate enough to end up in ICE custody. 32 people died, six of them in December alone. Others have died after leaving US custody. Randall Gamboa Esquivel is a particularly horrifying case. He was detained in December, 2024, and held for months in Texas. In September, he was flown to Costa Rica in a vegetative state. “When I saw my brother at the airport, I thought he had been tortured,” his sister said. “Have you ever smelled a cadaver? That’s how my brother smelled when he was deported.” Esquivel died a few weeks later. In October, US citizen Marimar Martinez was shot five times in her car by an ICE agent named Charles Exum while trying to protect her neighbors. Trump’s DOJ charged her with attempting to murder the agent, accusing her of ramming his vehicle while armed with a semi-automatic weapon. Martinez’ lawyers discovered Exum’s texts bragging about the incident: “Sweet,” he wrote in one message. “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes,” he wrote in another. “Put that in your book boys.” The DOJ eventually dropped all charges against Martinez. In September, an ICE agent shot and killed an undocumented immigrant and father of two called Silvero Villegas-Gonzalez in Illinois. DHS officials claimed the agent received “severe injuries” after being dragged by Villegas-Gonzalez’s car. But in body cam footage, the agent is heard dismissing his injuries as “nothing major.”
Obstruction: According to a court filing by Democratic lawmakers, the day after Good’s death DHS “secretly reimposed” a seven-day notice requirement for congressional oversight of immigration detention facilities — despite a court blocking this exact restriction a month earlier.
No Limits: Schools across Minneapolis reopened today after cancelling classes last week to protect students. Many instituted additional security measures, from extra officers to lawmakers acting as witnesses to groups of parents lining the sidewalk and shielding kids leaving school.
Iran’s Deadly Response: Over the weekend, videos from Iran emerged showing rooms filled with black body bags and people picking through them to try and identify relatives. Eyewitnesses described horrific scenes of violence during the latest anti-regime protests. According to reports on the BBC, forces “fired directly into lines of protestors” with assault rifles. Multiple human rights groups and international organizations put the death toll in the hundreds, if not thousands. “We are fighting a brutal regime with empty hands,” one protester said. “In war, both sides have weapons,” another said. “Here, people only chant and get killed.” On Thursday, the regime instituted a nationwide internet blackout, including of Starlink, that remains in force. This has made estimating the true death toll and communication to the outside world extremely difficult.
Tariffs, Again: Trump on Monday announced that any country doing business with Iran will be subject to 25% tariffs on “any and all business” done with the US.
Military Action? President Trump will be briefed on Tuesday on possible responses to ongoing protests in Iran. The Trump administration is reportedly communicating with government (and opposition) officials in Iran; today the White house said that Iran’s foreign minister spoke with Steven Witkoff and implied the government is willing to negotiate. A spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry acknowledged that the regime was considering “certain points and ideas” presented to them by the Trump administration. Tehran said on Monday it is “prepared for war” should Trump follow through on threats to use lethal force against the government in retaliation for its brutal crackdown on protestors.
Long Time Coming: This is far from the first time Iranians have protested the authoritarian Islamic regime, but these are the largest demonstrations in many years. They began over economic concerns; Iran’s economy, struggling under heavy sanctions for years, was further weakened by its disastrous 12-day war against Israel in June. In November, the country’s yearslong water crisis approached disaster levels, with the capital almost running out of water and senior officials warning its 10 million inhabitants may have to move. The following month, merchants and students began protesting soaring inflation. As the demonstrations spread and grew across the country, they turned into a wider critique of Iran’s theocratic, oppressive government. As is often the case in Iran, women are on the frontlines, protesting the regime’s extreme repression of women’s rights.
Razor’s Edge: The Iranian regime claimed on Monday that the “situation is now under total control.” It has acknowledged protest deaths, but has characterized those involved as rioters influenced or backed by the US and Israel.
Powell to the People: Trump’s DOJ has launched a criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Officially, it’s investigating Powell over ongoing renovations to the Fed’s Washington headquarters, which are running far over budget. Federal prosecutors are looking into whether Powell misled Congress about the project during a hearing in June. But in a defiant move, Powell taped a video calmly accusing the administration of punishing him for not conceding to Trump’s demands that the Fed lower interest rates. “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions,” he said, “or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.” He vowed to fight.
New Waters: The chair of the Fed has never before been the subject of a criminal investigation by the DOJ. Multiple lawmakers, including some Republicans, have voiced their support for Powell. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said on Monday that “it’s clear the administration’s investigation is nothing more than an attempt at coercion.” Every living former Fed chair, multiple former Treasury secretaries, and other economic experts on Monday signed a statement backing Powell and criticizing the investigation as an attempt to undermine the Fed’s independence.
Irony Anyone? Trump has announced that the cost of his White House ballroom has doubled from $200 to $400 million. And though he claims it’s funded through private donations, there are many ancillary costs related to construction at the White House, which will likely be borne by taxpayers. And that tab is only rising.
Keep reading for information on… The steps US allies are taking to defend Greenland from Trump. Why oil companies aren’t so happy with Trump’s Venezuela offer. And the winners — expected and unexpected — of this year’s Golden Globes.
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