MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minnesota, its two largest cities and a county over so-called sanctuary policies that the agency says interfere with the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration policies.

The lawsuit alleges the policies result in the release of dangerous criminals who would otherwise be subject to deportation, and it asks a federal court to invalidate state and local laws and policies that it says impede immigration enforcement. The suit filed Monday targets the state as well as Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis.

“Minnesota officials are jeopardizing the safety of their own citizens by allowing illegal aliens to circumvent the legal process,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.

Minnesota is one of the latest jurisdictions targeted over their immigration enforcement policies by the Trump administration, which has sued Colorado, Illinois, New York and New Jersey as well as several cities including Boston,Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City and Rochester, New York.

On a separate front, federal authorities said Tuesday they found widespread immigration fraud in a first-of-its-kind surge operation they conducted in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area this month. And they said they’re planning to expand the strategy to “many” other cities, but declined to name them.