Attorney General Ellison supports blocking ICE and CPB from unlawful practices in Los Angeles
Files amicus brief with coalition of 18 AGs in support of temporary restraining order
July 7, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Attorney General Ellison today joined a multistate coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in Vasquez Perdomo et al. v Noem et al seeking a temporary restraining order to block the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from engaging in unconstitutional and unlawful stops of Los Angeles residents during immigration sweeps. The lawsuit comes amid the Trump Administration’s conduct of aggressive, militaristic immigration raids in Los Angeles that have terrified immigrant and non-immigrant residents alike, wrongfully detained U.S. citizens, chilled community members’ participation in civic society, impeded law enforcement, and harmed public safety.
“In America, we believe that nobody is above the law, including those who enforce it,” said Attorney General Ellison. “It is deeply disturbing that masked law enforcement agents are conducting unconstitutional stops, wrongfully detaining U.S. citizens, and striking fear in the hearts of residents of a major American city. Today, I am asking the court to bring an end to President Trump and his administration’s violations of the Constitution and the civil rights of the people of Los Angeles.”
Late last week, Attorney General Ellison published an essay on his Substack account entitled “When the Law Won’t Show Its Face,” in which he argues that federal immigration enforcement officers masking their faces is not only terrifying but dangerous for everyone, including law enforcement officers. Attorney General Ellison calls on Minnesotans and all Americans to support a newly introduced bill in Congress, the No Secret Police Act (H.R. 4176), to ban the practice in all but limited circumstances.
In the plaintiff’s motion for temporary restraining order, they allege that ICE and CBP have a policy and practice of engaging in unconstitutional stops that are not based on a reasonable, individualized suspicion of unlawful presence, but are instead based on racial profiling.
In today’s amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs’ motion, Attorney General Ellison and the multistate coalition argue that a restraining order is in the public interest because:
- CBP and ICE engaging in unlawful stops of Californians without a reasonable suspicion of unlawful activity has harmed local economies, public health, and several other core facets of daily life.
- Federal law enforcement’s tactics in conducting these stops, which include wearing masks and concealing the law enforcement entity they work for, have impeded local law enforcement and threatened public safety.
In filing the brief, Attorney General Ellison joins the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
