University of Minnesota shooting range contract with ICE ends, U closes it to outside law enforcement

The contract the University of Minnesota’s outdoor firearms range in Rosemount had with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ended, and the U will also stop making arrangements with all outside agencies to use it, starting in December.

The range, located on UMore Park land, has operated for 40 years as a site for law enforcement to train their officers. University of Minnesota police will still be able to use the range.

“There’s a small number of local law enforcement agencies who had already reserved time this fall before we made the decision to discontinue renting the space,” Joe Linstroth, a U spokesperson, said in an email. “We are honoring those reservations.”

The $18,867 contract with ICE ended in May. Local law enforcement agencies have also used the gun range, but starting Dec. 1, other agencies will no longer be able to use it and the U isn’t accepting any more reservations between now and then.

The U made the change “after careful consideration of investments in staffing and maintenance as well as potential liability risks,” according to a statement from interim U Police Chief Eric Swanson.

The decision reflects the U’s commitment to financial stewardship and safety, Swanson said.

According to the Minnesota Reformer, the U was the only university in the country contracting with ICE, and it began contracting with them in 2022.

SDS, a student activist group at the U, said in an online statement that the decision to end the contracts “comes at the behest of student protesters and mounting public pressure.”

“Let us not forget, stopping the external use of the gun range was only one half of our demand — UMPD continues to train in the use of lethal weaponry at UMore Park. The range must be shut down," the statement said.

The group is also pushing for “transparent remediation of UMore Park.”

DuPont designed, built and ran the Gopher Ordnance Works smokeless gunpowder facility on the site, which once spanned 13,600 acres in Rosemount and what was then Empire Township. The plant operated from 1944 through 1945. About 8,000 acres was deeded to the U in 1947.

The massive parcel has had several uses. The U.S. military leased land there for a period; hazardous substances were disposed of during those times. The U used the land mostly for lab waste and agricultural research for half a century. About 2,800 acres became the Vermillion Highlands, a wildlife and recreation area administered by the U and the Department of Natural Resources.

Opposition to the firearms range contract with ICE is part of ongoing concerns recently about the U’s ties to federal agencies.

In June, SDS, which has been actively involved in pro-Palestine demonstrations around campus for years, protested the U’s sale of UMore land to a local aerospace company that officials say is working with the U.S. Department of Defense.

Students alleged that the 60 acres North Wind bought at UMore Park for $8.1 million was with money from a Department of Defense contract and that North Wind may design and test missiles, which the company hasn’t confirmed or denied. The issue spurred vandals to damage four regents’ homes.