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(CN) — Two Minnesota school districts and a major teachers union sued immigration officials on Wednesday over a new policy giving individual immigration enforcement officers broad discretion to conduct enforcement in and around schools, reversing 30 years of policy.
In early January, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem launched “Operation Metro Surge,” supposedly its largest operation ever. The agency sent 3,000 agents to flood the Twin Cities metro area and target “murderers, rapists, pedophobes and gang members,” according to Noem.
The massive enforcement action has drawn national scrutiny and sparked intense protests leading to officers fatally shooting two local residents.
For 30 years, schools have been off-limits for immigration enforcement actions except in extreme circumstances. DHS reversed course on that policy in 2021 without reasoning or explanation beyond trusting its agents to use “common sense.” Minnesota has felt the consequences.
On Wednesday, the Fridley and Duluth Public School Districts sued several immigration agencies and officials over what they say was an illegal policy change that has allowed enforcement actions to take place inside and around Minnesota public schools in recent weeks.
“DHS’s presence in and near school property has created an atmosphere of fear, for native-born citizens, naturalized citizens and legally present immigrants alike,” petitioners said. “Parents across the state are afraid to send their children to school.”
In the 33-page complaint filed in Minnesota federal court, the plaintiffs detailed plummeting school attendance since Operation Metro Surge began and increasingly aggressive enforcement actions taken on school property.
Since 1993, it has been the policy of immigration agencies to avoid conducting enforcement in sensitive locations like schools and places of worship at all costs. The rule was reiterated time and time again over 30 years by countless leaders, baking it into the bedrock of how immigration law is enforced in the United States.
Most recently, former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reaffirmed the longstanding policy in a 2021 memo commonly referred to as the “Mayorkas memo.” In it, he calls the sensitive location policy “fundamental” and stresses that DHS can accomplish its goals without limiting access to medical care, schools and worship.
The Mayorkas memo was enshrined on the ICE website and led Congress to begin requiring the agency to submit public reports on enforcement activities in or near protected areas as oversight.
In January 2025, then-Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman rescinded the 30-year rule without explanation in a three paragraph announcement that directly rescinded the Mayorkas memo, giving individual agents the authority to decide largely for themselves.
“Our brave men and women in uniform put their lives on the line every day to advance the rule of law and keep our people safe,” Huffman said. “Going forward, law enforcement officers should continue to use that discretion along with a healthy dose of common sense.”
The districts, joined by the Minnesota teachers union Education Minnesota, argued Wednesday that the memo marks a final agency action that reverses course on 30 years of immigration policy without explanation or consideration of alternatives as required by the Administrative Procedure Act.
They asked the court to permanently enjoin DHS from enforcing the new policy, and, thinking ahead, also asked that they be enjoined from rewriting the policy under a different title.
The petitioners also asked that DHS agents be prohibited from conducting immigration enforcement actions within 1,000 feet of school property or a school bus stop.
The complaint describes 14 enforcement actions on or near school grounds that it says have had a chilling effect on attendance and caused widespread fear.
On one extraordinary occasion at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, the districts say federal agents came onto school property just as the day was ending and began tackling and handcuffing staff.
Video footage apparently shows officers dragging a person on the sidewalk just outside the school, breaking car windows, tear-gassing students and indiscriminately spraying a group with a chemical of some kind after someone lobbed a snowball at one agent.
The Fridley School District serves around 2,800 students across six schools in a suburb of Minneapolis. Since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the city, Fridley schools have been forced to begin offering online learning not unlike what they offered during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Around 400 families have enrolled in the online learning option, according to the district. The district has seen a decline in attendance of at least one third since Operation Metro Surge began.
The Duluth Public School District serves 9,100 students in 21 schools. The district is also considering expanding online learning options to avoid losing state funding avenues that are tied to student attendance.
“The trauma being inflicted on children in America by this president is horrific and must end,” said Sky Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, who represents the districts. “The Trump-Vance administration’s decision to abandon long-standing protections for schools has injected fear into classrooms, driven families into hiding, and thrown entire school communities into chaos.”
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