About 80 Minnesotans to sue ICE over Metro Surge force

A Minneapolis man and roughly 80 others are preparing civil lawsuits against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleging agents used excessive force and illegally detained people during the recent immigration crackdown tied to protests over the killing of Alex Pretti. Plaintiff Dave Tauer says ICE agents dragged him from his white pickup on Jan. 24 as he tried to reach a protest, threw him to the ground and punched him in the back of the head hard enough to leave him with a black eye for weeks. ICE then posted his photo on its X account and branded him a 'violent agitator,' which he says is a false accusation that agents tried to justify with a fabricated claim that he hit an officer with his truck. Attorney James Cook, who represents Tauer and dozens of others, says most of his clients were innocent bystanders who were 'beaten up, roughed up, yanked out of their cars' and held despite committing no crime, and that identifying individual federal officers will be difficult because many had their faces covered. Cook says the firm will unveil the first wave of suits on Thursday and expects the legal battle over Metro Surge‑era abuses to drag on for years, possibly a decade, while ICE so far has not responded to requests for comment.