The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it started what could be described as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out by the agency — with 2,000 federal agents and officers expected in the Minneapolis area for a crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
The government planned to send about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers to Minnesota, according to a U.S. official and a person briefed on the matter. The agents are expected to be dispatched in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, the person said. The people were not authorized to publicly discuss operational details and spoke with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
"The largest DHS operation ever is happening right now in Minnesota," the department said in a post on X, dramatically expanding the federal law enforcement footprint in the state amid heightened political and community tensions.
Immigrant rights groups and elected officials in the Twin Cities reported a sharp increase Tuesday in sightings of federal agents, notably around St. Paul. Numerous agents' vehicles were reported making traffic stops, outside area businesses and apartment buildings.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also present and accompanied U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during at least one arrest. A video posted on X showed Noem wearing a tactical vest and knit cap as agents arrested a man in St. Paul. In the video, she tells the handcuffed man: "You will be held accountable for your crimes."
DHS said in a news release that the man was from Ecuador and was wanted in his homeland and Connecticut on charges including murder and sexual assault. It said agents arrested 150 people Monday in enforcement actions in Minneapolis.
Immigrant rights groups and elected officials in the Twin Cities reported a sharp increase Tuesday in sightings of federal agents, notably around St. Paul. Numerous agents' vehicles were reported making traffic stops, outside area businesses and apartment buildings.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also present and accompanied U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during at least one arrest. A video posted on X showed Noem wearing a tactical vest and knit cap as agents arrested a man in St. Paul. In the video, she tells the handcuffed man: "You will be held accountable for your crimes."
DHS said in a news release that the man was from Ecuador and was wanted in his homeland and Connecticut on charges including murder and sexual assault. It said agents arrested 150 people Monday in enforcement actions in Minneapolis.
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.
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.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly linked his administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota to fraud cases involving federal nutrition and pandemic aid programs, many of which have involved defendants with roots in Somalia.
News video detailing several Somali run daycares were vandalized and documentation
and nothing else was stolen as investigations into their operations ramp up.