Report: Hundreds more federal agents to arrive in Twin Cities for illegal immigration and fraud crackdown

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Minneapolis on Tuesday as federal immigration authorities signaled an expanded enforcement presence in the Twin Cities.

Social media posts from the DHS and Noem on Tuesday morning featured U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting a deportation operation. The videos, which showed agents accompanied by individuals carrying cameras and a boom microphone, appeared to underscore what officials and advocates say may be an escalation in federal immigration activity in Minnesota.

The posts came one day after CBS News reported that the Trump administration plans to deploy hundreds of additional federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities for a 30-day surge operation.

The report cites anonymous law enforcement sources who say as many as 2,000 agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation branch and Homeland Security Investigations will deploy to the Twin Cities.

The Minnesota Star Tribune has been unable to independently confirm the report. Minneapolis and state officials have been fielding questions since the holidays about an anticipated surge of federal agents coming to Minnesota.

The surge of federal agents to Minnesota follows intense national scrutiny over fraud cases looting the state’s social programs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Dec. 31 announced a pause in federal child care funding to Minnesota amid allegations of fraud in the state’s day care centers.

The reported deployment would build on the roughly 100 federal agents Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said are already in the Twin Cities.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the reported deployment, citing safety concerns.

“While for the safety of our officers we do not get into law enforcement footprint, DHS has surged law enforcement and has already made more than 1,000 arrests of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and gang members,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

McLaughlin didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification on whether the 1,000 arrests were made in Minnesota or nationwide. DHS previously said that agents have arrested more than 670 people in Minnesota since Dec. 1, although the Star Tribune has been unable to verify that number. The agency has not released a list of those detained.

Though no official announcement of the deployment has been made, a social media post by ICE indicated an influx of federal agents was slated to arrive in Minnesota. The post on X accused Hilton Hotels of canceling reservations for federal agents ahead of their stay at a Hampton Inn in Lakeville during the first weekend of the new year.

The post showed an email sent Jan. 2 from a Hilton address stating their staff “have noticed an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS, and we are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property.” The email said any customer who is “with DHS or immigration” will have their reservation canceled.

“They have taken immediate action to resolve this matter,” the spokesperson said.

The Lakeville hotel’s management company, Everpeak Hospitality, posted its own apologetic statement, saying it was “inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all.”

“We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated,” Everpeak said.

Megan Newcomb, an organizer with the group Sunrise Twin Cities, said the post from ICE, which says Hilton is “siding with murderers and rapists,” is further example of the government unfairly and broadly characterizing all immigrants as criminals.

“They are using this idea, this lie, of criminality, as an excuse to act upon their racism, and they’re using immigrants as a scapegoat,” Newcomb said.