Organizers of community groups tracking federal agents in the Twin Cities said on Friday that they were continuing to see arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis and its suburbs nearly a week after agents killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse.
But in the last few days, city officials and several volunteers from the tracking groups said that arrests appear to be taking place less visibly, with fewer clashes between agents and the public in the streets.
At least one person who has regularly kept track of agents said that he has observed fewer arrests, which he saw as perhaps a sign that the aggressive federal immigration operation of previous weeks might be slowing. Others said that they believed that the Trump administration was trying to leave an impression that it was scaling back in Minnesota, but might actually be continuing its operation in a more subtle, quiet fashion.
The Trump administration appeared to be responding to widespread public backlash over the killing of Mr. Pretti this week when it removed Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official, from his post in Minnesota, and the Justice Department said it had opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting of Mr. Pretti.
But in Minnesota, it was uncertain whether the crackdown on the ground might also be shifting amid the backlash. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about numbers of arrests in recent days or whether the operation was changing in any way.
Across the Twin Cities, where residents and elected officials have broadly opposed the crackdown on illegal immigration that the administration calls Operation Metro Surge, residents continued to stand guard outside of schools and businesses to watch for sightings of ICE agents.
One patroller, Will Stancil, a lawyer and activist also known for his online political punditry, has been searching for and following immigration agents for 22 days. He says he does it because he wants the agents to know someone is watching.
On Friday, he drove around South Minneapolis for three hours without spotting an arrest. There were several vehicles he found suspicious — mostly S.U.V.s with men wearing masks inside — but none that clearly belonged to immigration agents, and he saw no arrests along his route.
“It’s been a quiet last few days, though we have had lulls before,” Mr. Stancil said, as he drove his black Honda Fit in loops around part of the city, peering at cars that he described as suspiciously “ICE-y.” “We are all, at this point, very wary of reading too much into that.”
Dieu Do, an immigrant rights activist in Minnesota, said that her organization had not detected a decrease in ICE activity this week, even after an outpouring of concern over the death of Mr. Pretti.
“The only thing that feels different is the tone with which the federal government is speaking about this,” she said. “For folks on the ground, it doesn’t feel any different.”
Around the region, hundreds of residents have been monitoring federal agents’ movements through the city, building databases of license plates on cars driven by agents and trying to warn residents of impending arrests.
Mr. Stancil, 40, noted that someone was arrested by immigration agents on Friday morning in his neighborhood, and websites where users share reports of ICE sightings continue to suggest a large presence of agents in Minnesota.
But there has been a slight shift, Mr. Stancil and others said, including in the tactics observed.
He said it had grown more rare for a large convoy of agents to stay for a long period in one location — circumstances that tend to draw crowds of residents and sometimes lead to tense clashes. Still, those who have tracked the agents for weeks said they don’t want to let their guards down now.
“I think the fear will persist many months beyond when they actually leave,” Mr. Stancil said.
On Friday, protests sprung up outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building with a group of clergy members marching and chanting anti-ICE slogans, and around central Minneapolis, where throngs of demonstrators filled close to 10 city blocks.
Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports for The Times on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice.
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