WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has launched what officials describe as the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, preparing to deploy as many as 2,000 federal agents and officers to the Minneapolis area for a sweeping crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
The surge dramatically expands the federal law enforcement footprint in Minnesota amid heightened political and community tensions. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons, during an interview with Newsmax, called the crackdown the agency’s “largest immigration operation ever.”
Neither Lyons nor Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said how many officers were involved.
A person briefed on the operation told The Associated Press the Department of Homeland Security plans to dispatch as many as 2,000 officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss operational details and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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 ICE 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.”
The Department of Homeland Security 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.
Minnesota governor blasts surge
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, criticized the federal enforcement surge as “a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.”
“You’re seeing that we have a ridiculous surge of apparently 2,000 people not coordinating with us, that are for a show of cameras,” Walz told reporters in Minneapolis on Tuesday, a day after announcing he was ending his campaign for a third term.
Many residents were already on edge. The Trump administration has singled out the area’s Somali community, the largest in the U.S.,. Last month, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara criticized federal agents for using “questionable methods” following a confrontation between agents and protesters.
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.
Hilton drops Minnesota hotel that canceled agents’ reservations
Hilton said in a statement Tuesday that it was removing a Minnesota hotel from its systems for “not meeting our standards and values” when it denied service to federal agents.
The Hampton Inn Lakeville hotel, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) outside Minneapolis, apologized Monday for canceling the reservations of federal agents, saying it would work to accommodate them. The hotel, like the majority of Hampton Inns, is owned and operated by a franchisee.
The Hampton Inn Lakeville did not respond to requests for comment.
Federal authorities began increasing immigration arrests in the Minneapolis area late last year. Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel announced last week that federal agencies were intensifying operations in Minnesota, with an emphasis on fraud investigations.
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.
The person with information about the current operation cautioned that its scope and duration could shift in the coming days as it develops.
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Balsamo reported from New York. AP journalists Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this story.
