Dive Brief:
- Some federal immigration agents involved in Operation Metro Surge will begin leaving the Minneapolis area today, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced after a phone call with President Donald Trump yesterday.
- Trump said on social media Monday that border czar Tom Homan will now lead the operation and “will report directly to me.” Homan will meet with Frey today. Border Patrol Commander-at-large Gregory Bovino, who had been leading Operation Metro Surge, has been reassigned to California.
- Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s letter offering to “restore the rule of law” if the state allows it access to Minnesota’s “voter rolls” is “an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of federal law.”
Dive Insight:
Tensions heightened in Minneapolis over the weekend after multiple witness videos showed federal immigration agents shooting Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti multiple times while he was on the ground being restrained by other officials after being pepper-sprayed. .
Frey said he “was clear” in the conversation with the president “that my main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end. The president agreed this situation cannot continue.”
Frey and Gov. Tim Walz have been calling for federal immigration agents to leave the city since a federal agent fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good on Jan. 7. The Trump administration deployed thousands of agents to the Twin Cities area in December.
The Department of Justice last week issued subpoenas seeking documents from Frey, Walz and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her for an investigation into whether they have impeded federal immigration efforts in Minnesota. Frey called the subpoena “an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, local law enforcement, and residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our city.”
Minnesota state and city officials sued the Trump administration on Jan. 12, alleging federal immigration agents’ actions have violated the Constitution, undermined public safety efforts and interfered with the cities’ and states’ abilities to protect and care for residents.
During a hearing on that lawsuit Monday, Judge Kate Menendez ordered both parties to submit supplemental briefings by 6 p.m. tomorrow to address “Plaintiffs’ assertion that the purpose of Operation Metro Surge is to punish Plaintiffs for adopting sanctuary laws and policies; coerce Plaintiffs into changing state and local law; compel Plaintiffs to direct state and local resources to facilitation information sharing to aid federal immigration enforcement; and cause Plaintiffs to direct more state and local resources toward holding immigration targets in detention for longer periods of time than otherwise allowed,” KARE11 reported.
The White House said in a Jan. 16 statement that “the responsibility for the enhanced enforcement operations in Minnesota — and the tension and violence — lies squarely with these officials who refuse to partner with the Trump Administration and instead put their Radical Left agenda over public safety and the rule of law.”
Walz has denied Minnesota is a “sanctuary state.” At a U.S. House Oversight Committee hearing in June, he said the state “cooperates with federal immigration authorities in a number of ways,” including sharing prison inmates’ immigration status with the Department of Homeland Security and complying with DHS requests when they are backed by a judicial warrant.
“We also respect cities and counties who choose to not dedicate further time, resources, or personnel to coordination with DHS, beyond this state-level minimum,” Walz said. “We recognize that fear of deportation can chill effective law enforcement. We believe that when immigrants are afraid to interact with the police, witnesses and victims may avoid reporting crime or cooperating with criminal investigations.”
