Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem decried the lack of local cooperation on immigration enforcement and promised a surge in new agents during a Twin Cities visit on Friday.
Speaking at a late afternoon news conference, she blamed Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for an increase of violent crime. She also highlighted federal funding that has been recently approved to hire more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
“We have thousands more in the next week or two that will be deployed into field offices as well, and this office will be the beneficiary as well,” she said.
Noem’s appearance drew hundreds of protesters who held a news conference of their own and a rally outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, which houses the Fort Snelling Immigration Court.
It comes on the heels of Operation Twin Shield, a “targeted surge” in enforcement by immigration officials and the FBI in the Twin Cities metro area in September that officials said uncovered 275 cases of suspected immigration fraud.
At the news conference Friday, Noem spoke behind a table piled high with confiscated assault weapons. She was joined by Samuel Westbay, St. Paul special agent in charge from Homeland Security Investigations and HSI Special Agent Tonya Price, among others.
Since January, Noem said federal agents have arrested more than 4,300 people in Minnesota for immigration violations. She highlighted four cases at the news conference of men arrested for crimes including human trafficking, homicide and sexual assault.
Major cities in Minnesota do not comply with ICE’s request to hold detainees, Noem said, allowing “dangerous criminals” to be released.
Last month, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota, city of Minneapolis, city of St. Paul and other state officials over policies that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officers. The case is still pending.
Both cities are involved in lawsuits to block Trump’s order earlier this year to cut federal funding grants that support city services. Some of the threatened services include housing support, transportation and emergency management.
Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter released statements in response to Noem’s visit on Friday, reassuring residents that local law enforcement are prohibited from working with federal immigration and immigrants have legal rights.
On Friday Noem said one Minnesota county, that she did not name, has recently signed an 287(g) agreement that allows ICE to delegate authority and train local officers to perform immigration enforcement functions. She is looking to collaborate with smaller towns to partner on federal immigration operations, she said.
Local immigration attorneys said Noem’s data on arrests clashes with the information they have on their immigrant clients who have been detained by ICE in recent months. They also said an increase of federal immigration officers will likely result in more enforcement across Minnesota.
“The message that the administration wants to convey is very different than what the reality is of the average undocumented person,” said Evangeline Dhawan-Maloney, a local immigration attorney.
Watching the press conference via live video feed, some attorneys said it felt similar to a political campaign in the way it perpetuated negative rhetoric towards immigrants.
“We need these immigrants and many of them coming from the border are not the worst of the worst that she is describing,” said Gloria Contreras Edin, a St. Paul immigration attorney.
Sahan Journal, along with at least two other media outlets, the Spokesman Recorder and Humanizing Through Story, were denied access to the news conference. DHS told Sahan that the venue was “at capacity” and the other two outlets arrived to find their names crossed out on the media list.
