Image: Customs and Border Protection agents at the Whipple federal building in Minneapolis. Photograph: Tim Evans/Reuters

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing federal immigration authorities in Minnesota of racial profiling and unlawful arrests amid widespread Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

In a 72-page lawsuit filed on Thursday on behalf of three community members who are all US citizens, the ACLU accused federal immigration agents of violating citizens’ constitutional rights, arguing that Somali and Latino communities in the state have been disproportionately targeted.

Naming the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary, Kristi Noem, as defendants, along with several other Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, the lawsuit points to what it describes as a “startling pattern of abuse spearheaded by the Department of Homeland Security … that is fundamentally altering civic life in the Twin Cities and the state of Minnesota”.

Click here for full article.