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AS MINNEAPOLIS RAGES, LEGISLATORS MOVE TO RESTRICT ICE IN THEIR
STATES  
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David W. Chen
January 28, 2026
The New York Times
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_ Efforts to curtail federal law enforcement tactics began last year,
but with the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Democratic
lawmakers are pushing harder. _

, Eric Lee for The New York Times

 

After the deaths of two American citizens in Minneapolis at the hands
of federal agents, Democratic legislators across the country, aided by
libertarian groups, are redoubling their efforts to restrict and
challenge federal immigration tactics in their states.

A Colorado bill [[link removed]] that was
introduced in mid-January would enable individuals to sue federal law
enforcement officials for civil rights violations.

In Delaware, a bill [[link removed]]
similar to one that was filed in New York last spring would prevent
commercial airlines from receiving jet fuel tax exemptions if they
transport people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement
without warrants and due process.

And in the wake of the killing on Saturday of Alex Pretti
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in Minneapolis, a California lawmaker said he would sponsor two bills
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one to require that any shooting by ICE agents be subject to an
independent state investigation, and another to bar ICE from using
state properties as a staging area for federal operations.

 

[Candles glow around flowers and a photo of Alex Pretti in hospital
scrubs, with a sign reading. “May you know peace.”]
Mourners gather Monday night at the site of the killing of Alex Pretti
by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, Minn.Credit...Victor J. Blue
for The New York Times

Ever since the second Trump administration embarked on its large-scale
deportation effort
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Democratic-leaning states have proposed — and passed, in some
instances — countermeasures, such as banning masked or unidentified
law enforcement officers. Last month, a dozen legislators from seven
states announced that they would coordinate
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legislation in 2026 to complement the litigation already being used by
Democratic attorneys general to challenge immigration policies.

But after the killings of both Mr. Pretti and Renee Good, a resident
protesting ICE’s presence
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in the Twin Cities, those endeavors have gained more urgency,
according to lawmakers and immigration rights groups.

“I do think that we are starting to see legislators who, last
session, were afraid of being a thorn in the side of an ascendant
Trump administration — they were so afraid of poking the bear,”
said Naureen Shah, who leads the American Civil Liberties Union’s
immigration and advocacy work. “The tide is now turning, and maybe
they feel that they’ve got nothing to lose.”

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, questioned the motives of
all those state-level Democrats.

“Democrats don’t care about the rule of law,” she said. “If
they did, they would support the president’s law-and-order agenda,
which includes enforcing federal immigration law. Instead, Democrats
are openly undermining the rule of law to protect criminal illegal
aliens.”

Some states that are controlled by Republicans have gone the opposite
direction. A new bill in the South Carolina legislature
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would mandate that all county sheriffs enter into formal agreements to
work with ICE. Tennessee Republicans
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want government agencies to check the legal status of all residents as
a condition of receiving public assistance, and also to verify the
immigration status of elementary and secondary school students,
despite a decade-old Supreme Court ruling that forbade
[[link removed]]it.

With most state legislatures back in session
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patterns are emerging out of the dozens of bills that are active or
being discussed, said Gaby Goldstein, the founder of State Futures
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organizes progressive lawmakers nationally and tracks legislation.

Many are related to rule-of-law concerns and civil rights protections.

The Colorado proposal, for instance, mirrors one
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in California, Washington
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Wisconsin [[link removed]] and
elsewhere that seek to establish a private right of action
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which would give individuals or organizations the ability to file
civil lawsuits for constitutional violations in state court, rather
than on the federal courts, said State Senator Mike Weissman, the
bill’s primary sponsor and a lawyer by trade. He represents the
Denver suburb of Aurora, which Mr. Trump has said has been “taken
over” by Venezuelan gang
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His bill would take aim at civil immigration enforcement, he said,
“not police officers doing ordinary work.”

Though the legislation would apply to ICE and other branches of the
Department of Homeland Security, he emphasized that the bill focuses
on conduct that would violate constitutional rights rather than on
employees of any particular branch of government.  

“I mean, to use a crazy example, if Trump starts mobilizing park
service employees to go crack heads and violate the Fourth Amendment,
they’re going to find themselves answerable as well,” he said.

He has been working with the Institute for Justice, a libertarian
group that has long battled against federal overreach. One of its
cases involves a construction worker in Alabama
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descent who, despite being a U.S. citizen and showing his REAL ID, was
detained twice by masked agents
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Under current legal standards, Anya Bidwell, a senior attorney for the
Institute for Justice
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individuals find it hard to sue state and local officials, and all but
impossible to sue
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federal ones, who have broader immunity. And with the Supreme Court
and Congress showing no appetite to step in, she said it is incumbent
upon a state to “protect its own citizens.”

“Power works in a way that once you have it, you try to accumulate
more and more and more of it,” she said. “And it’s really
important to be able to fight back and to be able to enforce the
rights that are guaranteed to us as individuals. That really
shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”

That sensibility is also guiding State Senator Anthony Broadman, a
first-term Democrat who represents a swing district in Bend, Ore., and
is trying to appeal to conservatives who might remember when they were
the ones outraged by federal recklessness.

[A man in a blue suit and red striped tie stands at a lectern, a
police officer next to him.]
State Senator Anthony Broadman, a first-term Democrat who represents a
swing district in Bend, Ore., is trying to appeal to conservatives who
might remember when they were the ones outraged by federal
recklessness.Credit...Dave Killen/The Oregonian, via Associated Press

Oregonians, Mr. Broadman said, still remember the armed sieges in Ruby
Ridge, Idaho, and in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
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in eastern Oregon, he said, “where conservatives have been harmed by
the federal government.” So he hopes to introduce a bill similar to
the one in Colorado that would apply to federal constitutional
violations, but would not be limited to immigration.

“It’s not just liberals and immigrants who get hurt by the United
States, when they violate people’s rights,” he said.

Other targets of state-level Democratic bills include banning
agreements that delegate some federal immigration powers to state and
municipal law enforcement agencies (Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont)
and banning masked or unidentified law enforcement officers (Maryland,
Arizona, Virginia).

A bill
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in Washington would limit the ability of federal immigrant agents to
enter child care centers, health care facilities and election sites
without a warrant or court order. And in Maryland, one lawmaker wants
to prevent ICE agents who were recruited
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by the Trump administration from later working for any state law
enforcement agencies.

Democrats are also hoping to gain more traction on bills introduced
last year that would use fiscal tools to clamp down on immigration
tactics, such as by restricting public contracting with companies that
work with ICE.

Lawmakers in Maryland and New York
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have proposed that if the federal government withholds money that the
state is owed, in defiance of court decisions, then they would place
liens on federally owned properties.

[A man at a lectern speaks from a crowded stage, before a large sign
that says, “Hands off Chicago.”]
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois speaks at a rally during the “No
Kings” national day of protest in October in Chicago.Credit...Kamil
Krzaczynski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The Trump administration has already begun to fight back. The
Department of Justice sued Illinois
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in December after the Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, signed a law
making it easier for state residents to sue immigration agents.
Federal lawyers argued that the law placed the agents in physical harm
and at financial risk.

One state whose legislature is not scheduled to meet until Feb. 17 is
Minnesota. But already, legislators are hammering out bills in
response to Ms. Good’s death, such as prohibiting or limiting ICE
agents from entering sensitive places such as hospitals, schools and
group homes, said State Senator Erin Murphy, the chamber’s top
Democrat, a nurse by training.

Another proposal — which she believes has not been introduced
elsewhere — would require that federal agents operating in Minnesota
meet the same kind of training requirements now in place for local law
enforcement — including providing first aid. ICE agents appeared to
reject offers to aid Ms. Good after she was shot, including from a man
who identified himself as a doctor.

There are no Republican co-sponsors yet for any of the proposed bills.
But Ms. Murphy did note that Representative Marion Rarick,
[[link removed]]who represents a reliably
Republican district about 45 minutes northwest of Minneapolis, had
posted on Facebook
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that “ICE must stop racial profiling and violating civil rights as
has been experienced and documented by LAW ENFORCEMENT. Full stop. No
excuses. Just stop.”

_DAVID W. CHEN_ [[link removed]]_ is a Times
reporter focused on state legislatures, state level policymaking and
the political forces behind them.  Laurel Rosenhall contributed
reporting  _

* state legislatures
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* anti-ICE
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