ICE in greater Minnesota spreads fear, strains local leaders
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Many immigration enforcement actions are flying under the radar in greater Minnesota because of fewer observers to document them. The operations are also creating problems for local city leaders and law enforcement agencies, while stirring fear and anxiety in many residents across the state.
Three recent shootings by federal agents in the Twin Cities metro area — two of which killed Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti — sent shockwaves across the state, including in southern Minnesota.
The killings are stoking fears in southern Minnesota, as ICE and Border Patrol officers enforce operations in communities like St. Peter, Mankato, Madelia, St. James and Willmar.
There have been reported encounters with workers in Mankato working on construction, ICE agents stopping drivers near Walmart. ICE agents detained workers at a restaurant in Willmar, after having eaten there earlier, according to local news outlets.
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Local law enforcement officials state they’ve been a target of federal misinformation, too. Cottonwood County, the sheriff’s office pushed back against claims made by DHS in a video of federal agents arresting a Guatemalan immigrant charged with criminal sexual conduct.
The DHS video claimed Cottonwood County refused to honor their detainer, and released the “child sexual predator.”
But Sheriff Jason Purrington called the DHS claims “wholly inaccurate and not true.”
The sheriff said in a news release that his office notified ICE that someone had posted bail for the man and he would be released, but an ICE agent responded that they were too busy in the Twin Cities to pick him up.
— Hannah Yang, MPR News
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