Minneapolis has been the latest battleground for the Trump administration in its ongoing campaign of aggressive immigration enforcement across the country. In the year since resuming office, President Trump directed a surge of immigration enforcement officers into several localities, including Los Angeles; Chicago; New Orleans; Portland, Oregon; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Lewiston, Maine. In response, state and local officials representing these communities launched new policies and initiatives to protect residents amid federal escalations – charting a course for other localities that the Trump administration may target next.

The examples below highlight strategies for other states and localities to consider, in anticipation of increased enforcement activity in their communities.

Pushing Back on Aggressive Federal Enforcement Activity

State and local officials from Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities subject to large-scale federal immigration enforcement vocally opposed such operations for inflaming tensions, undermining civil rights, and putting communities at greater risk of harm. These state and local actors took concrete steps to curtail federal deployments and indiscriminate civil immigration enforcement in their communities by:  

Filing lawsuits to block federal operations: State and local officials in California, Illinois, Oregon, and Minnesota sued the federal government, looking to halt National Guard troops – which are now often deployed alongside ICE agents – and limit surges in federal immigration enforcement in their communities.

Creating location guardrails for civil immigration enforcement: Last year, California and Illinois enacted laws that prohibit federal officers from conducting civil immigration enforcement in certain locations such as courts, schools, and health care facilities. Localities like Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Jose, California, banned federal immigration agents from utilizing certain city property for staging or operations relating to civil immigration enforcement. Chicago and Minneapolis also created free signage for private property owners to designate non-public areas and limit civil enforcement in those spaces.

Establishing protocols and training state and local employees on federal enforcement interactions: Many of the states and localities that experienced federal enforcement operations last year crafted or required protocols for schools, health care facilities, and other sensitive locations. Portland, Los Angeles, and Seattle each established new requirements to train city employees on how to handle interactions with federal immigration enforcement.

Holding Federal Officers Accountable

Federal immigration enforcement officers utilized increasingly aggressive arrest and crowd control tactics during operations last year – resulting in numerous allegations against officers for violating individual rights, using unnecessary force, and racially profiling. Options to hold the federal government and officers accountable are complicated, but some states and localities have stepped in to make this path easier.

The Illinois Bivens Act, enacted in December 2025, allows for civil lawsuits against anyone who violates constitutional rights while participating in civil immigration enforcement. With this legislation, Illinois joined a small cohort of states including California, Maine, and Massachusetts, that created pathways for residents to seek recourse for alleged rights violations by federal officers.

Targeted states and localities also created mechanisms to collect evidence and document patterns of federal agents violating the rights of community members:

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker created the Illinois Accountability Commission to investigate and document civil rights abuses stemming from federal immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area.

The California Office of the Attorney General launched an online portal for members of the public to submit reports of potentially unlawful actions in the state by federal agents, to inform possible legal actions that the state may take to protect Californians.  

The New Orleans City Council published a Know Your Rights webpage that asks residents to upload videos of potential misconduct by federal immigration officials and publishes Know Your Rights information for community members. 

Keeping Stakeholders and the Public Informed

In these emergency situations, state and local officials play a critical role in facilitating accurate and timely flows of information between government entities, community groups, the media, and the public, including by:  

Bolstering intragovernmental coordination: Seattle established a Seattle Resilience Task Force, tasked with coordinating citywide planning and response to potential National Guard or other federal deployment to the region. Los Angeles created a working group between the LA Police Department, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, and other community stakeholders to inform how local law enforcement responds to federal immigration enforcement activity.

Disseminating information and resources to the public: In the face of federal immigration raids, states like Illinois and Oregon and localities like Chicago and Portland launched online information hubs with Know Your Rights materials, resources, and support for immigrant communities. State and local actors are also important sources of Know Your Rights information for students, employers, and the general public.

Highlighting stories of impact and on-the-ground conditions: In Maine, Governor Janet Mills released a video clarifying what the state knew about a rumored federal operation and what they were doing to prepare. Publications from the Illinois and California governors’ offices disputed claims used by the Trump administration to justify deployments and emphasized the economic costs to residents for the operation. Government officials amplified their messaging by bringing together leaders from business, faith, education, law enforcement, and other sectors to speak out against these types of federal actions.

Local community groups also played a major role in supporting immigrant neighbors during enforcement operations, from mutual aid groups to rapid response hotlines to neighborhood patrols.

State and local governments are continuing to demonstrate that their leadership can uplift grassroots work and leverage their tools to help keep communities safe – even in the face of enforcement activities that threaten their community’s security.