Homeland Security said Tuesday it launched what it described as the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out by the department, with about 2,000 federal agents and officers expected to be deployed in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The department tied the crackdown in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents, as federal teams moved into the Twin Cities amid heightened political and community tensions.
In a post on X, the department said: “The largest DHS operation ever is happening right now in Minnesota,” expanding the federal law-enforcement footprint in the state. A U.S. official and a person briefed on the operation told The Associated Press that the government planned to send about 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers, with the officers expected to be dispatched in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The two people said they were not authorized to publicly discuss operational details and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The operation was accompanied by visible enforcement activity, including multiple reports from immigrant rights groups and elected officials of a sharp increase in federal agents’ sightings Tuesday, notably around St. Paul. AP reported that agents’ vehicles were seen making traffic stops and that federal teams were stopping outside area businesses and apartment buildings.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was also present, accompanying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during at least one arrest. A video posted on X showed Noem wearing a tactical vest and knit cap as agents arrested a man in St. Paul, and in the video she told the handcuffed man: “You will be held accountable for your crimes.”
DHS said in a news release that the man arrested was from Ecuador and was wanted in Ecuador and Connecticut on charges including murder and sexual assault. DHS also said agents arrested 150 people Monday in enforcement actions in Minneapolis. The person with information about the operation cautioned to AP that the scope and duration could shift in the coming days as the operation develops.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, criticized the federal surge as “a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.” Walz told reporters in Minneapolis that residents were seeing “a ridiculous surge of apparently 2,000 people not coordinating with us, that are for a show of cameras,” adding that he had announced the day before that he was ending his campaign for a third term.
Local officials and immigrant advocates said the federal enforcement pace was unlike what they had experienced in recent operations. Molly Coleman, a St. Paul City Council member, said Tuesday was “unlike any other day we’ve experienced,” and she added that when ICE comes into a city, it is “an enforcement in which every single person is on guard and afraid.” Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said there had been an increase in sightings of federal agents and enforcement vehicles in areas such as parking lots, and Dieu Do, an organizer with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, said residents could “definitely a feel a heavier presence.”
AP reported that the deployment includes both arrest teams and investigators focused on fraud-related allegations. Roughly three-quarters of the enforcement personnel were expected to come from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which carries out immigration arrests and deportations, while the rest included agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which typically targets fraud and cross-border criminal networks. According to a person briefed on the operation, HSI agents were going door-to-door in the Twin Cities area investigating allegations of fraud, human smuggling and unlawful employment practices, with the HSI focus on identifying suspected fraud while deportation officers conducted arrests of immigrants accused of violating immigration law. The operation was also described as including specialized tactical units.
The operation also involved personnel from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, AP reported, citing a person familiar with the deployment. Bovino’s prior tactics during federal operations in other cities have drawn scrutiny from local officials and civil rights advocates, AP said.
The crackdown also spilled into local business disputes. Hilton said it was removing a Minnesota hotel from its systems for “not meeting our standards and values” after the Hampton Inn Lakeville canceled federal agents’ reservations. The Hampton Inn Lakeville apologized Monday for canceling the reservations and said it would work to accommodate the agents, though the hotel did not respond to requests for comment, AP reported.