Social Issues

Minnesotans continue to navigate changes to asylum, green card applications
Federal immigration policy is always changing, but the changes have been happening more quickly in recent months. Immigration advocates and lawyers in Minnesota have been working with clients to navigate what it all means.
Feds propose housing ICE detainees in western Minnesota private prison
The Department of Homeland Security has posted a proposed contract for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use a private prison facility in western Minnesota to hold up to 1,600 immigrant detainees.
Trump administration has separated dozens of children from their parents for a second time, AP finds
An Associated Press investigation reveals that dozens of children who were separated under the first Trump administration have been re-separated, despite a judge's order to reunite them.
Senate begins voting on funding immigration enforcement after Trump's settlement fund is dropped
The Republican-led Senate is moving forward with legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies after forcing the White House to drop its settlement fund for political allies and stripping a separate proposal for White House security from the bill.
Court orders payment of legal fees for man who claims ICE agents fractured his skull
Alberto Castañeda Mondragón was hospitalized after he said ICE agents in St. Paul dragged him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton. ICE agents told hospital staff that the man ran while handcuffed into a brick wall.
ICE is spending millions of dollars on iris scanners, expanding its arsenal of tech tools
ICE is expanding its use of iris recognition technology, with plans to deploy hundreds of scanning devices across the country. The practice raises concerns among privacy experts that the Department of Homeland Security is amassing a database of biometric data.
ICE detainees are dying by suicide at an 'alarming' rate, an AP investigation finds
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are taking their own lives at a pace that’s unprecedented in the agency’s two-decade history, highlighting what experts call failures in care and oversight.
New Trump immigration guidance could force some green card applicants to wait abroad
Immigration attorneys say the new policy memo doesn’t target existing green card holders, but could impact immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for years while navigating complicated immigration backlogs or waiting for other legal pathways to open.