Nominated By: Omar Jadwat, Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project
Age: 30
Based In: Minneapolis
After clerking for the Honorable Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and serving as a Liman Fellow at the Bronx Defenders’ Impact Litigation Practice, Yale graduate Kshithij Shrinath joined Greene Espel PLLP, where he was recognized in 2025 by Minnesota Lawyer as an Attorney of the Year for his pro bono work defending students facing sudden deportation.
“I came to know Kshithij Shrinath, a young lawyer at the Greene Espel firm in Minneapolis, through our work together on a team challenging unlawful stops and arrests by immigration agents in Minnesota. Kshithij has played a central role on this team, which assembled and presented overwhelming evidence of abuse by ICE and CBP on the streets of the Twin Cities under intense time pressure. The litigation has added more powerful voices—including the federal court’s—to the chorus disapproving of agents’ lawless and abusive practices, which have wreaked havoc on Minnesota communities.” —Omar Jadwat
Omar Jadwat: In many ways, over the past six months or so Minnesota has been at the epicenter of illegal activity by federal immigration agents. What has it been like living through the federal government’s attack on Minnesota’s immigrant communities?
Kshithij Shrinath: Operation Metro Surge [a deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to the streets of the Twin Cities metropolitan area that began last December] altered civic life in Minnesota. The scale was unprecedented, and the tactics were shocking. Our team, which brought together multiple law firms and the ACLU, filed a lawsuit challenging DHS’s unconstitutional practices used during the surge. That lawsuit documented that federal agents were stopping people and asking for their papers for no reason besides their race or ethnicity.
This approach swept in scores of people, including citizens and green-card holders, living peacefully in Minnesota: getting groceries, going to work, standing outside their homes. In a place notable for its decades-long commitment to welcoming immigrants and refugees, deploying thousands of masked officers disrupted and devastated the lives of ordinary people. During a court hearing, our team presented a map of firsthand accounts of unlawful stops and arrests: the encounters spread from the heart of downtown to distant suburbs. No part of the state was untouched.
Jadwat: Minnesota has also been at the epicenter of courageous, creative resistance to ICE and CBP abuse by people from all walks of life. Do you think of litigation as one of many modes of resistance (or activism), or something quite separate?
Shrinath: I’m not sure what qualifies as activism, but litigation plays an important role in checking unconstitutional governmental action, as it did during Operation Metro Surge. Lawsuits like the one we brought forced the government to provide information and helped to outline the fundamental constitutional rights to which everyone is entitled. Scores of habeas petitions curbed the government’s attempt to detain hundreds of Minnesotans and transfer them out of state. And litigation can provide accountability and justice after the fact.
But litigation is slow by nature, and it is often a complement to the foundational work of democracy. Brave Minnesotans did that work: observing government officials as they purported to carry out their duties, marching in protest in the middle of winter, and caring for their neighbors by coordinating grocery drop-offs and school pick-ups. Not surprising for a state defined by solidarity and community.
Jadwat: How should we think about the federal government’s apparent change of posture in Minnesota? Is it real? Is it a win?
Shrinath: On one hand, the drawdown fits the same playbook the administration used in Los Angeles, DC, and other cities: surge, disrupt, and depart. Even though the judge in our case held that DHS’s tactics likely violated the Fourth Amendment, the departures allow the administration to redeploy these tactics in new cities and sidestep reckoning with the harm they leave behind.
On the other hand, the administration’s drawdown, spurred by popular outrage, has alleviated some of the day-to-day uncertainty. It is my hope that people throughout the country will hold the government accountable for the tactics in Operation Metro Surge and will remain committed to the ideal of our country as a nation of immigrants.
Jadwat: You’re a lawyer with paying commercial clients who does this work—and other public-interest litigation—pro bono. There’s a lot less of that sort of thing happening now than there used to be. Should that trend be reversed, and if so, what do we need to do to get there?
Shrinath: Engagement in civic life and pro bono work is a fundamental commitment of being a lawyer. I do not have magic answers beyond affirming the importance of those foundational ideals. I am grateful to work at a firm that is dedicated to supporting pro bono work and being an active part of our communities.
Jadwat: What should folks who are just starting out in their legal careers be looking for or doing, if they want to have practice like yours one day?
Shrinath: There are many different ways to be a litigator, and I think it is important to find a style that is true to yourself. I’m of course still developing that. My mentors have modeled the importance of reflection, both during major points of a case and after. Through that approach, I learned to take ownership of key strategic decisions, find the niches that I enjoy, and gain confidence going to the next step. I also have been very lucky to work with people that I enjoy working with, including the amazing team that brought our case; litigation is deadline-driven and often adversarial, and stress is easier to handle when you trust your colleagues.
This feature is part of CULTURED’s 2026 Young Activists list, spotlighting those around the country working to champion the causes closest to them. Each is nominated and interviewed by a leader in their field. You can read their features here.
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