The American Civil Liberties Union is filing a class action lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of three Minnesotans — two Somali men and one Latino man — "whose constitutional rights were violated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and other federal agents," the ACLU of Minnesota announced Thursday morning.

The announcement comes just hours after President Trump threatened to use the Insurrection Act to send U.S. troops into Minnesota to "put an end" to protests. There are currently 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota amid Operation Metro Surge, which officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security say has so far yielded 2,500 arrests since it began last month.

The lawsuit is a joint effort by the ACLU and pro bono partners Covington & Burling LLP, Greene Espel PLLP and Robins Kaplan LLP.

ACLU of Minnesota executive director Deepinder Mayell and staff attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson spoke at Thursday's conference, underlining the "increasing escalation of unconstitutional activity throughout the state," and how federal agents as racially profiling residents, conducting illegal search and seizures and making arrests without warrants.

"It is not a mystery," Mayell said. "People around the world are seeing this, and this should be understood as part of a broader pattern, one that has been well documented in court after court across this country."

Ahlin-Halverson spoke about one of the men involved in the suit, 20-year-old U.S. citizen Mubashir Khalif Hussen, who alleges he was violently detained by federal agents during his lunch break last month in Minneapolis.

"[Hussen was] was held at the Whipple [Federal Building] by masked ICE agents who refused to look at his U.S. passport card until they had him in detention," Ahlin-Halverson said. 

Hussen says he was also pepper sprayed last week for recording federal agents as they drove past him.  

The other two men involved have similar stories, Ahlin-Halverson said, including a Latino man who was "harassed" and "violently tackled" by Border Patrol agents.

"Then they drove him around in their car, finally leaving him in a Walmart parking lot, sobbing on the ground after looking at his passport in the car," Ahlin-Halverson said.

The other Somali Minnesotan involved in the suit alleges federal agents detained him and his mother as they worked to shovel his vehicle out so he could get to his job as an overnight personal care assistant.

"Masked federal agents surrounded them and detained them for a lengthy period, separating them from each other and questioning their valid identification," she said.

The ACLU of Minnesota says it's seeking a motion for a preliminary injunction from a federal judge, and an emergency order to prevent federal agents from violating the constitutional rights of the state's residents.

"Because they're targeting Minnesotans based on their perceived ethnicity as Somali and Latino, agents are unlawfully using their enforcement authority against many more people of color and Native American people in Minnesota," Ahlin-Halverson said.

The ACLU of Minnesota has an online form for Minnesotans to report instances of being "questioned, stopped, arrested, or detained by ICE where the officers did not have a warrant or where the encounter appeared to be the result of racial profiling."

WCCO has reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for comment.

Tensions continue to build across Twin Cities

On Wednesday night, an ICE officer shot a Venezuelan migrant in the leg in north Minneapolis, leading to violent clashes between protesters, federal law enforcement and Minneapolis police. The shooting occurred exactly one week after 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot by ICE officer Jonathan Ross in south Minneapolis.

Federal government officials tell CBS News the migrant and two others allegedly attacked the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle as the officer tried to make an arrest.

Within an hour before the shooting, Gov. Tim Walz gave a rare primetime address to Minnesotans where he urged Mr. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to "end this occupation." He also called on Minnesotans to protest peacefully and record ICE activity to aid in future prosecutions.