Noem in Twin Cities as federal immigration crackdown continues
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The federal Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that Secretary Kristi Noem was in the Twin Cities, as a federal immigration crackdown continues.
The agency posted a video to social media on Tuesday morning, showing Noem accompanying federal agents as they detained a man.
The agency and Noem, in separate social media posts, labeled the video as being taken in Minneapolis — but it appeared to show the operation taking place at a building on Payne Avenue in St. Paul.
DHS said the man is from Ecuador and is in the U.S. illegally, and that he’s wanted for murder and sexual assault. Noem said that warrant is from Ecuador, and said he was also convicted of robbery and extortion. DHS and Noem did not provide further details on those cases.
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It was not immediately clear how long Noem would be in the Twin Cities.
It’s now been more than a month since federal officials announced an immigration operation targeting the Twin Cities. The agency has previously said that it’s made hundreds of arrests.
Gov. Tim Walz, who ended his bid for a third term Monday, sharply criticized the federal enforcement effort, raising concerns about both the scale of the operation and the lack of coordination with state officials.
“We have a ridiculous surge of apparently 2,000 people not coordinating with us that are for a show of the cameras,” Walz said. “Why 2,000 folks? What are they coming to do? Do they want to coordinate with us?”
MPR News contacted both ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to confirm the number of agents being deployed to Minnesota. DHS responded with a statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, saying, “While for the safety of our officers we do not get into law enforcement footprint, DHS has surged law enforcement and has already made more than 1,000 arrests of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and gang members.”
In another statement to MPR News, a DHS official said agents made 150 arrests on Monday alone in Minneapolis.
Walz said the increased ICE presence is creating fear among immigrant communities, particularly communities of color.
“What he's [Trump] doing to the Somali community is absolutely unconscionable,” Walz said, adding, "If you want us to fix fraud, come and help us do that. They're not interested in that.”
Walz said he views the federal action as part of a broader political attack on Minnesota.
Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez said he has not received confirmation from the federal government about the reported deployment of 2,000 agents but said the impact of increased enforcement is already being felt across the city.
“There hasn't been information shared with me at the city level,” Chavez said. “But what we are witnessing on the ground, is that we have already seen an escalation of ICE agents across our city and across the state.”
Chavez said community members in South Minneapolis are reporting agents stopping and detaining people early in the morning as they head to work.
“We have already seen it starting really early in the morning as people were heading to work, getting stopped and being kidnapped by ICE,” he said.
He described seeing agents in tactical gear and an increase in unmarked vehicles.
“We're seeing the tactical gear all over Lake Street and across South Minneapolis,” Chavez said. “We're seeing a ton of unmarked vehicles and we have witnessed folks already being detained.”
Chavez said he is particularly concerned about racial profiling and due process.
Molly Coleman, a St. Paul City Council member whose district includes a manufacturing plant where agents arrested more than a dozen people in November, said Tuesday was “unlike any other day we’ve experienced.”
“It’s incredibly distressing,” Coleman said. “What we know happens when ICE comes into a city, it’s an enforcement in which every single person is on guard and afraid.”
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said there had been an increase in sightings of federal agents and enforcement vehicles in locations like parking lots.
“We can definitely a feel a heavier presence,” said Dieu Do, an organizer with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, which dispatches response teams to reports of agents.
Meanwhile, the Immigrant Defense Network — a statewide coalition of more than 100 organizations — is launching constitutional observer trainings across the state to help community members document and respond to federal enforcement activity.
Surge includes investigators focused on fraud allegations
Roughly three-quarters of the enforcement personnel are expected to come from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which carries out immigration arrests and deportations, said the person with knowledge of the operation. The force also includes agents from Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative arm, which typically focuses on fraud and cross-border criminal networks.
HSI agents were going door-to-door in the Twin Cities area investigating allegations of fraud, human smuggling and unlawful employment practices, Lyons said.
The HSI agents are largely expected to concentrate on identifying suspected fraud, while deportation officers will conduct arrests of immigrants accused of violating immigration law, according to the person briefed on the operation. Specialized tactical units are also expected to be involved.
The operation also includes personnel from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, the person familiar with the deployment said. Bovino’s tactics during previous federal operations in other cities have drawn scrutiny from local officials and civil rights advocates.
