The Trump administration is sending roughly 1,000 more immigration officers to Minnesota, expanding its law enforcement surge in the state and potentially escalating already tense relations between federal and local officials in Minneapolis.
The Customs and Border Protection officers are joining 2,000 other officers and agents at the Department of Homeland Security who have been deployed to the Minneapolis-St. Paul region recently, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said last week that the effort was its “largest operation to date.”
Local officials in Minneapolis have urged federal forces to leave the city, saying their efforts to arrest immigrants were sowing chaos and danger. Protests have also erupted nationwide after the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman who was shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last week. Ms. Good had been participating in a protest in response to immigration agents who had been spotted in the city.
On Monday, state and city officials in Minnesota and Illinois filed federal lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing that the mass deployment of immigration officers to the Minneapolis and Chicago regions violated the U.S. Constitution. The Minnesota lawsuit asked a judge to block federal officials from “implementing the unprecedented surge” in the state.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly defended their enforcement operations in both states.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday that the department was sending more immigration officers to the Minneapolis region, which would allow federal law enforcement there to work safely. Ms. Noem added that people who conducted “violent activities against law enforcement” or impeded operations would be held accountable.
“We’re going to keep doing our jobs,” Ms. Noem said. “Criminal illegal aliens in this country are going to be brought to justice.”
The increase in immigration officers adds to an already massive federal law enforcement presence in the Minneapolis region. In comparison, the Minneapolis Police Department has roughly 600 officers.
The Trump administration has intensified its focus on Minnesota in recent weeks, saying it was “unleashing a relentless assault” on the state to root out fraud. Federal officials have also vowed to ramp up enforcement operations in other Democratic-led states including California and New York.
The administration’s focus on Minnesota follows fraud investigations into a pandemic-era program meant to feed children and other safety net programs in the state. More than 90 people, most of them of Somali origin, have been charged with felonies in recent years. President Trump has used xenophobic language to attack Somalis who are living in the United States, saying, “We don’t want them in our country.”
The Department of Homeland Security said on Friday that it was reviewing thousands of refugee cases in Minnesota, subjecting immigrants who had already been approved for status to new interviews and background checks. Groups that provide assistance to refugees criticized the effort and said it was an unnecessary attempt to scrutinize immigrants who had already completed a thorough vetting process.
The Trump administration also said it would suspend funding for food stamps in Minnesota. A similar effort to freeze billions in federal funding for child care and social service programs in five Democratic-led states, including Minnesota, was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in New York last week.
Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.
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