Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem touts immigration enforcement in Twin Cities appearance

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised immigration efforts in Minnesota during a brief visit to the Twin Cities on Friday, an occasion the former South Dakota governor also used to criticize state and local officials over policies inhibiting law enforcement here from sharing certain information with federal agents.

Surrounded by seized firearms and packages of drugs at a press conference in Fort Snelling, Noem touted the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and remove the “worst of the worst” from the United States.

She said federal immigration agents in Minnesota have arrested over 4,300 people since January, highlighting arrests of a Mexican national accused of child sexual assault and a Salvadoran charged with human trafficking.

“In this country, with this president in the White House, we don’t pick winners and losers. We don’t decide which law gets enforced and which one doesn’t,” Noem said of immigration enforcement. “There are laws. They are on the books. They were put in place, voted on and instituted, and therefore we enforce them all. If members of Congress, senators, governors don’t like the law, then they should go through the work of changing them and telegraphing and communicating to their members that live in their communities why it needs to be changed.”

Noem has appeared in several cities to praise partnerships with federal agents and ramped-up arrests and deportations of undocumented people, this time in a state that the Trump administration has critiqued since the early days of the president’s second term.

Three weeks prior to Noem’s visit, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul over the jurisdiction’s sanctuary policies, calling the ordinances a violation of federal law. The suit is just one of many examples of President Donald Trump using the DOJ to target Democrat-led states and Minnesota over a myriad of hot-button issues. DOJ officials have also targeted Minnesota’s Secretary of State for voter rolls, a state hiring policy and a plea deal directive by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Noem lobbed criticism at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey during her appearance, stating their leadership has resulted in a “refusal to defend American citizens,” alluding to the state’s “sanctuary” policies.

In response to Noem’s comments, a spokesperson from Walz replied: “The Governor wishes the Trump Administration would stay focused on the real issues facing Americans: skyrocketing health care costs, a crisis for farmers and the ongoing federal government shutdown.”

The visit also comes on the heels Trump administration officials characterized the Twin Cities as a hotbed of immigration fraud last month, providing few details other than the metro area is rife with people using sham marriages or fake documents to obtain U.S. citizenship or legal residence. Officials said criminal charges could come from a 10-day probe into suspicious cases as part of the ongoing investigation. Noem praised the “first of its kind” investigation but provided no update.

She declined to say whether the department will convert a shuttered private prison in Appleton, Minnesota into an ICE detention facility, as reported in August by the Washington Post, but said the agency is looking for more detention partnerships in Minnesota.

Outside the building, several hundred protesters gathered to make as much noise as possible as Noem spoke

Protestors held signs with messages such as, “Love your neighbor,” “Free countries don’t disappear people” and “Make due process great again.” They waved upside-down and right side up American flags and dressed in costumes like frogs and cows.

Several clergy members led the crowd in chants and songs, including DeWayne Davis, a candidate for mayor.

Craig Loya, the bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota, said it was a “painful irony” that the building, which houses immigration court services, is named after Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple, a predecessor of Loya’s. He told the crowd that Whipple spent his ministry “standing with those who were marginalized, oppressed and scapegoated.”