A coalition of local schools and teachers became the latest group to take their issues with the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge to federal court on Wednesday. Since the Trump administration began the immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis area, it has received pushback over its aggressive tactics with a flurry of lawsuits.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota targets the Department of Homeland Security’s decision, on the first day of the Trump administration, to revoke the policy restricting immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations,” including churches and schools. The coalition of school districts and the teachers union argue the policy was unlawfully revoked in January 2025 and cite the “fear” possible enforcement operations at schools has caused students and parents.
“As a result, parents, children, and teachers, regardless of immigration status, reasonably fear going to school,” the lawsuit reads. “School districts and teachers across Minnesota have reported significant reductions in attendance rates since the onset of ‘Operation Metro Surge.’
“Defendants’ actions have caused direct and irreparable harm to the abilities of school districts and educators to fulfill their functions—to educate children and to provide access to educational services and a safe learning environment,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit filed in Minnesota is not the first time the Trump administration’s revocation of the sensitive locations policy has been challenged in federal court. A pair of previous lawsuits in federal courts in Washington, D.C., and Colorado last year failed to undo the policy change. In the Colorado case, brought by a group of schools in the Centennial State, the judge was unconvinced by the claims that the new DHS policy led to decreased attendance at the schools.
The Trump administration previously defended the policy change, arguing the old policy allowed illegal immigrants with a criminal background to “hide” from law enforcement in the “sensitive” locations, saying they will “not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
The lawsuit also marks the latest effort to thwart immigration operations in Minnesota via a court order.
A federal district judge placed restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics used in Minnesota in a ruling last month, but a federal appeals court panel lifted those restrictions. In a case brought by state officials, a federal district court declined to grant their request to immediately end Operation Metro Surge.
DHS PULLS 700 FEDERAL OFFICERS FROM MINNESOTA AFTER ‘UNPRECEDENTED COOPERATION’ WITH STATE: HOMAN
The lawsuits come as Minnesota officials and the Trump administration have held talks to lower tensions in the North Star State, while still enforcing immigration laws. President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan announced Wednesday that they would pull 700 officers from the state, citing “unprecedented cooperation” with state jails turning over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities.
The Trump administration said since Operation Metro Surge began in December, it has arrested more than 4,000 undocumented immigrants in Minnesota.
