ST. PAUL — Minnesota attorney Robyn Meyer-Thompson was already making preemptive calls before Inauguration Day in January, telling her clients to ensure their children have the proper documentation to be in the U.S.
It was a proactive effort by Meyer-Thompson and her fellow attorneys at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, which anticipated President Donald Trump would act quickly on immigration after taking office Jan. 20. The evening of his inauguration, Trump issued a flurry of executive orders, including one to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. for children of undocumented immigrants.
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Meyer-Thompson said that while immigrant parents are still working to ensure they have legal protection to stay in the U.S., concern has now firmly centered on the status of their children.
“Immigrant parents, just like any parents, want the best for their children, and they’re putting their children before their own needs,” she said. “Even though they’re trying to do what's best for themselves, to protect themselves on behalf of their children, we are definitely seeing a lot of concern and planning around caring for children during these challenging times.”
Meyer-Thompson said she is advising clients with at least two years in the U.S. to carry proof of their stay and any pending application documents and stresses not to sign anything they don't understand. Additionally, she is telling clients to not waive their right to present their case in court, request a bond hearing and seek consultation with an immigration lawyer before answering any questions related to their case.
Immigrants in Minnesota
Among Minnesota’s total immigrant population — documented and undocumented — there are 248,200 children in Minnesota with at least one immigrant parent, according to the Minnesota Compass , a nonprofit research organization. This equates to roughly 1 in 5 children in Minnesota being children of immigrants.
Of the 1 in 5 children in Minnesota who have immigrant parents, 211,000, or 85%, are U.S. citizens , according to the Vera Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that works to improve the criminal legal and immigration systems.
Meyer-Thompson said that the executive order could technically go beyond just undocumented immigrants in Minnesota.
The order states that denying citizenship could apply “when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa).”
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The executive order stipulates that it applies only to people born 30 days after the Jan. 20 order was issued — which would be Thursday, Feb. 19, or later.
Workforce and economy
Minnesota’s population growth is currently relying heavily on immigrants , according to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.
Minnesota has seen a decrease in “natural population change” — which subtracts total deaths in the state from total births — from around 38,000 natural population growth in 2007 to 12,000 natural population growth in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Laura Bordelon, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president of advocacy, told Forum News Service in November that immigrants have been crucial to meeting workforce needs.
“We aren’t having enough natural growth in terms of population in our state, and in addition to that, we have more people leaving Minnesota than moving into Minnesota,” Bordelon said. “So almost all of our growth in terms of population has been from immigration, immigrants coming into Minnesota, and that’s been pretty important for meeting our workforce needs.”
The effects on the economy are another area of concern, with just about 10% of the state’s workforce being immigrants, according to the American Immigration Council.
Immigrants and refugees represent 15.8% of the labor force in Minneapolis and 22.2% of the labor force in St. Paul as well as 13.2% of the business owners in Minneapolis and 33.2% of the business owners in St. Paul, according to a 2019 study co-authored by the two cities.
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Legislators take immigration action
In the Minnesota Legislature, Republican lawmakers have vowed to introduce bills stripping undocumented immigrant benefits in the state, and have already begun doing so.
Some of the efforts are in SF690 introduced by Sen. Jordan Rasmussen, R-Fergus Falls, which includes stripping benefits like health care and college tuition for undocumented immigrants.
Another bill in the Senate is SF643, which would require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal law enforcement, even in the 12 Minnesota counties that have declared themselves sanctuary counties, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. Those counties are Anoka, Cottonwood, Dakota, Hennepin, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lincoln, Lyon, Nobles, Pipestone, Ramsey and Watonwan.
While the data is limited, the state estimates that 81,000 non-citizens residing in Minnesota are potentially at risk of deportation, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Minnesota joins lawsuit
Attorney General Keith Ellison filed alongside 22 other states to block the executive order in Minnesota. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 21, argues that birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 1401 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The lawsuit is set to be in front of three federal judges this week, according to reports from ABC News.
“Me and about 22 other democratic attorneys general began a series of meetings where we identified things that we thought the Trump administration was going to do, and so this did not take us by surprise,” Ellison said. “It goes to show that when Trump says that he’s against illegal immigration, he’s not only against illegal immigration, he’s against legal immigration, too.”
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have already begun across the country, Ellison said his team is watching closely and if “we find them violating the law, we’re going to take action.”
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The Trust Project
