Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

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In a press briefing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt continued to blame Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for “actively inhibiting efforts to arrest violent criminals.”  And she laid out some of Trump’s demands.

“Governor Walz, Mayor Frey and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities, along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation,” Leavitt said. 

The Minnesota Department of Corrections says it regularly cooperates in transferring detainees to ICE.

The state agency says it has identified 68 cases in which it willingly handed over individuals to ICE, “only for DHS officials to falsely claim these same individuals were ‘arrested’ by waves of federal agents deployed into Minnesota communities.”

Since the conference, the Associated Press reported that senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and some agents are expected to leave Minneapolis as early as Tuesday. 

Leavitt also said the Trump Administration is not yet committing to cooperating with local officials on the investigation into the fatal shooting of ICE observer Alex Pretti Saturday during an immigration enforcement action.

“The President spoke about this with Governor Walz and said he would have a discussion about it. He did not make a commitment, and so therefore I won’t make that commitment here,“ Leavitt said. 

Leavitt said Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI have teamed up for an investigation and there’s an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection investigation of what’s happening on the ground in Minnesota.

NBC News reported earlier today that investigators are reviewing body-camera videos from immigration agents in the Pretti’s fatal shooting. 

When asked if  the body camera footage would be made public, Leavitt said that is not something she has heard the president commit to.

The latest on ICE in Minnesota

Annie Baxter

Author

The Trump Administration is not yet committing to cooperating with local officials on the investigation into the fatal shooting of ICE observer Alex Pretti Saturday during an immigration enforcement action, White House says. 

Trump administration not yet committing to work with local officials to investigate Alex Pretti fatal shooting

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