(1-27-26) Columbus and Cincinnati have joined 80 local governments and others across the country to challenge the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s deployment of armed federal immigration agents in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

The amicus, or friend of the court brief, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, was authored by attorneys for the city of Boston and co-signed by attorneys from 80 other cities and local governments across the country. 

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said in a Jan. 26 news release.

“What we’re seeing in the Twin Cities is horrific, heartbreaking, and more of the same illegal and unconstitutional tactics from the Trump-Vance administration that seemingly cares more about retribution than the rule of law. Two people have now been shot and killed in the streets, local governments are under threat, and residents continue to have to worry about federal agents upending their daily lives. The courts are the surest check against this administration, and we will use every tool we have to hold this administration accountable for their overreach.”

Coalition members, which included Cincinnati Solicitor Emily Smart Woerner, filed the amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.