New Letter Urges Governor, Legal professional Basic, County Attorneys, Mayors and Chiefs of Police to Launch Legal Investigations into Federal Brokers for Illegal Assaults, Detentions, and Political Retaliation In opposition to Minnesota Residents
(MINNEAPOLIS, MN 12/18/25) – The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) in the present day joined Free Speech For Folks, a nationwide nonpartisan authorized advocacy group, in submitting a request urging Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Legal professional Basic Keith Ellison and different officers to open felony investigations into the illegal actions of federal brokers working within the Twin Cities and all through the state, together with racially profiling and kidnapping U.S. residents.
For the reason that Trump administration’s racist statements concentrating on Somali People in early December 2025, federal brokers have carried out a collection of illegal detentions, violent assaults, and kidnappings, primarily concentrating on and racially profiling the Somali immigrant neighborhood and different communities of colour throughout Minnesota, as a part of the administration’s immigration operations.
Free Speech For Folks and CAIR-Minnesota’s letter alleges that these acts have been a part of a coordinated felony conspiracy directed by President Donald Trump and senior administration officers, meant to not implement federal legislation however to punish and terrorize immigrants, Somali People—together with these born on this nation—and political opponents.
“Federal brokers in Minnesota have been documented concentrating on communities based mostly on nothing greater than the colour of their pores and skin and their perceived faith,” mentioned Courtney Hostetler, Authorized Director for Free Speech For Folks. “These should not legitimate bases for immigration enforcement, not to mention illegal assaults and kidnappings.”
“The overwhelming majority of Somali People in Minnesota are U.S. residents, and even by the federal authorities’s personal estimates, lower than a fraction of 1 % of our neighborhood might presumably be topic to immigration enforcement,” mentioned Jaylani Hussein, Govt Director of CAIR-Minnesota. “What we’re witnessing as an alternative is the harassment and intimidation of U.S. residents based mostly on race, language, and perceived faith—by way of illegal detentions, assaults, and coercive techniques that don’t have anything to do with public security. Native police departments have witnessed federal brokers interact in shameful and harmful conduct, together with escalating tensions and frightening confrontations with observers and authorized witnesses, creating risky street-level conditions. Taken collectively, these actions replicate a coordinated sample of intimidation reasonably than official legislation enforcement, and so they demand rapid felony investigation and accountability from state and native authorities.”
Whereas the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts have been purportedly aimed on the “worst of the worst,” publicly out there proof signifies many residents being detained are residents or have authorized standing.
Federal brokers have engaged in a collection of violent and illegal actions, together with:
Detaining people with out trigger;
Focusing on and harassing people due to their perceived race and/or faith.
Utilizing extreme power in opposition to residents and residents in the middle of immigration arrests;
Pointing firearms at bystanders with out case.
The letter outlines quite a few potential violations of Minnesota felony legislation, together with assault, illegal use of a weapon, kidnapping, mistreatment of individuals confined, housebreaking, trespass, illegal meeting, rioting, coercion, threats of violence, public nuisance, in addition to potential hate crimes and civil rights violations. It additional contends that Supremacy Clause immunity doesn’t defend federal brokers who act exterior lawful authority or interact in conduct they know to be illegal.
“Federal brokers and officers who unreasonably and unnecessarily violate state felony legislation should not immune from state prosecution,” mentioned Ben Clements, Chairman and Senior Authorized Advisor at Free Speech For Folks. “That features the officers who ordered them to terrorize the Somali American neighborhood and the President himself.”
Free Speech For Folks emphasizes that whereas federal prosecutors have been compromised by the administration’s personal misconduct, state and native authorities retain impartial jurisdiction to research and prosecute crimes dedicated inside their borders.
“The President has made it clear that this operation is about punishing communities for together with Somali People or supporting Somali People,” mentioned Ben Horton, Counsel at Free Speech For Folks. “Below these circumstances, the federal authorities just isn’t going to self-discipline brokers who interact in racist, illegal habits. It’s as much as Minnesota officers to guard their residents.”
CAIR-MN is the state’s main Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. Its mission is to guard civil rights, improve understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
