The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched a sweeping legal offensive against Minnesota and several other states, challenging both their sanctuary city policies and their refusal to comply with federal requests for sensitive voter registration data. The lawsuits, filed in late September 2025, have ignited fierce debate over states’ rights, privacy, and the boundaries of federal authority—leaving local officials, legal experts, and immigrant communities bracing for a protracted battle.
According to reporting from multiple sources including Stateline and the Reformer, the DOJ’s first salvo came on Monday, September 29, when it sued Minnesota, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Hennepin County, and top state officials over what it described as “sanctuary city” policies. The Trump administration contends these local measures, which limit police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, directly undermine national security and public safety.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a statement quoted by Stateline, did not mince words: “Minnesota officials are jeopardizing the safety of their own citizens by allowing illegal aliens to circumvent the legal process.” Bondi pledged to continue legal action against “any jurisdiction that uses sanctuary policies to defy federal law and undermine law enforcement.” Minnesota had already been flagged in early August as one of several states with such policies, alongside New York and Boston.
Yet Minnesota officials pushed back hard. Governor Tim Walz’s spokesperson rejected the DOJ’s claims, stating, “Minnesota follows federal law – we are not a sanctuary state. We will review the lawsuit, but suspect it is another partisan stunt that will not hold up in court.” The state’s Attorney General, Keith Ellison, echoed this sentiment, promising to fight the case: “This baseless lawsuit is just more political retaliation against Minnesota and we will respond in court. In the meantime, Minnesota will continue to use our law enforcement resources to actually improve public safety.”
The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Jacob Frey and Melvin Carter, also issued defiant statements. Frey declared, “Minneapolis will not back down. We will fight with all our strength for our immigrant neighbors — and we will win.” He accused President Trump of building his career on “attacking immigrants and dividing Americans,” adding, “Minneapolis will always stand with our neighbors over Trump’s politics of fear.” Carter, for his part, described the federal administration as an “embarrassing federal regime” and promised, “We will stand with our immigrant and refugee neighbors no matter how many unconstitutional claims the White House makes.”
The legal wrangling over sanctuary policies is just one front in a broader conflict. On Thursday, September 25, the DOJ filed another lawsuit—this time targeting Minnesota and five other states for refusing to turn over their voter registration lists. The states named in the suit—California, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, in addition to Minnesota—have all resisted federal demands for detailed voter data, including Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers.
Secretary of State Steve Simon, who has held office since 2015, explained his rationale in an interview with the Reformer. “This starts and ends with the law,” Simon said. “Our legal position … is that the law requires the Department of Justice to show two things, at least. First, why specifically they need this sensitive information, and second, what they’re going to do with this private information. In other words, who are they going to share it with? For what purposes? What are the safeguards? How will it be stored and kept and transmitted?”
Simon went on to say that the DOJ has never explained “with specificity precisely how this information — this very sensitive personal information on millions of people — would aid their inquiry into compliance with federal law.” He also noted that the Department of Homeland Security had expressed interest in the data, which the DOJ never disclosed, further heightening concerns about privacy and transparency.
President Donald Trump, who has continued to make unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud, directed Attorney General Bondi in March 2025 to seek information about suspected election crimes. The DOJ has since shared some voter information it has collected with the Department of Homeland Security, according to Stateline, raising alarms among state officials about the potential misuse of such data.
Simon emphasized the constitutional foundation for state control over elections: “The United States Constitution is clear that states are in charge of the time, place and manner of elections. … The one exception … is that Congress may step in from time to time and assert authority over some aspects of the election system. … So the Constitution is clear: States are in the driver’s seat, unless and until Congress steps in. It says nothing about anyone else. It says nothing about the President of the United States or the executive branch or anyone else.”
The lawsuits against Minnesota and the other states are part of what Stateline and other outlets have described as an unprecedented push by the DOJ for sweeping access to state elections data. On September 30, 2025, the department filed lawsuits against eight states in total, responding to what it called “unjustified refusals” to provide voter registration information. The scope and scale of the requests—covering millions of Americans—are, in Simon’s words, “far more sweeping and ambitious and yet less clear” than anything states have seen before, prompting suspicion and alarm across the political spectrum.
Meanwhile, the DOJ’s legal blitz has not been limited to immigration and voting. Minnesota is also facing a federal lawsuit over its state tuition benefits for undocumented students, adding yet another layer to the legal and political standoff between the state and the Trump administration.
For many in Minnesota, these lawsuits are about more than policies—they’re about identity and values. “City employees work for residents, not the Trump administration,” said St. Paul Mayor Carter. Both Carter and Frey have vowed to defend immigrant and refugee communities, regardless of federal pressure.
As the legal process unfolds, the stakes remain high for Minnesota’s immigrant families, voters, and public officials. Secretary Simon, for his part, has not yet announced whether he will seek re-election in 2026, promising only that “I’ll have an announcement about that in the coming weeks.”
With both sides digging in and the courts set to decide, Minnesota’s clash with the federal government is poised to become a defining test of state autonomy and the future of American democracy.
