Federal agents, carrying out Gestapo-style immigration arrests in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman, rammed the door of one home on January 11 and forced their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those violent federal deployments playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper-spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily-armed, masked, and unidentifiable agents.
Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums, and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man.
HOW ICE CIRCUMVENTS THE LAW WITH “FAKE” WARRANTS
Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have done extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a judicial order signed by a judge. Legal experts often describe administrative warrants as “fake” because they are not signed by a judge and lack the authority of a court-issued warrant.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away and soon gone.
Federal agents used the same type of administrative warrant during a controversial arrest attempt in Milwaukee, when ICE officers entered Judge Hannah Dugan’s courtroom in April to detain a defendant without a judicial warrant.
The confrontation prompted formal objections from Judge Dugan over the agents’ authority to operate inside a Milwaukee County Circuit Courtroom, and later became the basis of federal charges accusing her of obstructing immigration enforcement.
The incident drew national attention because, as in Minneapolis, ICE relied on an administrative warrant that does not authorize entry into nonpublic areas.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
MINNEAPOLIS STILL TENSE AFTER RENEE GOOD SHOOTING
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot at point-blank range and killed by an immigration officer on January 14.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners on January 11 in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization.
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On January 12, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
QUESTIONS ABOUT WHO SHOULD HANDLE THE INVESTIGATION
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good’s shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Senator Tina Smith said in separate interviews on January 11 that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened,” Smith said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the January 10 weekend.
Thousands of people marched on January 10 in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.
