A Minneapolis man, who had been babysitting a 3-year-old boy when the child grabbed his gun and fatally shot himself, has been sentenced to nearly 6 months in jail.
Elliot Staples III pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter last September. Court documents say he will serve 180 days in jail beginning March 3, followed by five years of supervised probation. If he violates his probation, he will serve four years in prison. Staples was also ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution.
On Oct. 21, 2024, the victim’s mother says Staples had been babysitting her 3-year-old son, Jajuan Robinson, at her northeast Minneapolis apartment while she was at work.
According to the criminal complaint, Staples set his gun down on a center island in the kitchen, went to the bathroom and, while in there, heard a gunshot. He came out and found Robinson bleeding from the head.
Charges say Staples told authorities he usually puts the gun on top of the refrigerator, but didn’t this time because “he was rushed.”
Robinson was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Note: The video above originally aired on Oct. 24, 2024.
New video from CBS News provides another angle and additional insight into a Jan. 13 encounter between Alex Pretti and federal agents.
A representative of the Pretti family confirms to CBS News that Pretti is in the video, and stated, “he was violently assaulted by a group of ICE agents. Nothing that happened a full week before could possibly have justified Alex’s killing at the hands of ICE on Jan. 24.”
Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents on Jan. 24, is seen joining a small crowd of concerned community members as federal agents blocked off a street during immigration enforcement.
“Get the f*** out of here!,” Pretti said. “What the f*** is wrong with you?”
Then, the video shows a federal agent in tactical gear taking a couple of steps towards Pretti before walking away and stepping into a federal SUV.
Pretti then spits on the SUV and kicks out the vehicle’s passenger-side taillight.
Multiple agents took Pretti to the ground, then he was briefly detained.
Video of the Jan. 13 confrontation also shows Pretti with a handgun in his waistband.
In the video, Pretti never appears to reach for the gun. He also had a license to carry in both encounters on Jan. 13 and Jan. 24.
A Minneapolis resident, who did not wish to be named, was part of a small group of mourners who paid their respects to Good at her memorial on Thursday.
“It’s irrelevant that he had another encounter,” the woman said of the Jan. 13 confrontation. “Of course, he had an encounter because he was someone who cared, and was willing to take the risk of coming out and being on the streets, while all this violence was happening… It’s just a ploy, a pretext to try and discredit him.”
A federal judge in Texas on Saturday ordered 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father to be released from immigration detention.
Granting an emergency request filed by the family’s lawyer, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery directed government officials to release Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos and his son, who were detained by ICE earlier this month in Minnesota, from immigration detention “as soon as practicable,” but no later than Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Earlier in the week, Biery had blocked ICE from deporting Liam and his family or transferring them away from Texas, while the legal case unfolded.
In an opinion accompanying his ruling, Biery said the detention of Liam and his father “has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”
The judge also cited the Declaration of Independence, saying the government’s ignorance of it is “apparent.”
Biery signed his opinion on Saturday with a photo of Liam seen wearing a blue bunny hat and his school backpack as he was being detained. The photo garnered national attention and sparked outrage.
Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, is detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after arriving home from preschool no Jan. 20, 2026, in a Minneapolis suburb.
Ali Daniels / AP
Since their detention, Liam and his father have been held at the Dilley ICE detention center, a facility in Texas designed to house immigrant families with underage children who have been accused of violating federal immigration law.
Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds
The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope
This 13 page document lays out DHS policy for use of force. Now these rules apply to Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and Secret Service and make it clear what protocols agents should follow before any use of force is applied. And while it’s easy to look back and replay video over and over after the fact, experts we talked to told us agents need to rely on these policies and training, especially in critical moments. Unfortunately, It, it’s for me as *** field office director, this all of this is very um upsetting. Darius Reeves, *** former ICE field office director, spent nearly 20 years with ICE and Homeland Security, *** time when he says their operations were not drawing public attention. No one had any idea about ICE. We were very professional, we were very clean, and this is. There are far too many US citizens being involved. What troubles Reeves now isn’t just the outcome of recent encounters, but whether ICE and Border Patrol are following their own use of force and de-escalation policies. When is use of force an option? If it’s an immediate Imminent threat. The National Investigative Unit reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s use of force policy alongside video from the two recent killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good and talked with experts including Reeves. DHS policy is clear officers should attempt de-escalation, issue verbal commands, reassess when resistance stops, and discontinue force once an incident is under control. Video from the encounter involving 30 seven-year-old Alex Preddy shows in the minute before the shooting, Preddy is recording from *** distance. Agents push *** woman who grabs onto Preddy. He’s then pushed. An agent pushes another woman near Preddy, who then steps in with an open hand up, then turns away from the agent as he’s sprayed with *** chemical. They continually sprayed him even when his back was to them, and then everybody piles on. Based on the video we’ve seen, in your opinion. Was deadly force used correctly on Alex Peretti? Absolutely not. The second case involving Renee Good raises *** different policy question. DHS rules place strict limits on the use of deadly force in and around vehicles. Mark Brown used to train ICE agents and explains the strict rules. The general practice was that They went away from shooting in the moving vehicles. Reeves and Brown add that incidents need to be carefully examined afterward to prevent future violations. Are we debriefing every day after, you know, to see, OK, what are we doing for our own accountability? This is *** major travesty, um. And you, you’re going to have to stick to the policy. The DHS policy states that every agent must be trained in use of force and de-escalation policies at least once *** year, and every 2 years they must conduct less than lethal force training. The policy we reviewed was last updated in 2023. Reporting in Washington, I’m national investigative correspondent John Cardinelli.
Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds
The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope
A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policiesA federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.”Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —
A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.
Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policies
A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.
Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”
The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.
The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.
“Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.
Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds
The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope
This 13 page document lays out DHS policy for use of force. Now these rules apply to Customs and Border Protection, ICE, and Secret Service and make it clear what protocols agents should follow before any use of force is applied. And while it’s easy to look back and replay video over and over after the fact, experts we talked to told us agents need to rely on these policies and training, especially in critical moments. Unfortunately, It, it’s for me as *** field office director, this all of this is very um upsetting. Darius Reeves, *** former ICE field office director, spent nearly 20 years with ICE and Homeland Security, *** time when he says their operations were not drawing public attention. No one had any idea about ICE. We were very professional, we were very clean, and this is. There are far too many US citizens being involved. What troubles Reeves now isn’t just the outcome of recent encounters, but whether ICE and Border Patrol are following their own use of force and de-escalation policies. When is use of force an option? If it’s an immediate Imminent threat. The National Investigative Unit reviewed the Department of Homeland Security’s use of force policy alongside video from the two recent killings of Alex Preddy and Renee Good and talked with experts including Reeves. DHS policy is clear officers should attempt de-escalation, issue verbal commands, reassess when resistance stops, and discontinue force once an incident is under control. Video from the encounter involving 30 seven-year-old Alex Preddy shows in the minute before the shooting, Preddy is recording from *** distance. Agents push *** woman who grabs onto Preddy. He’s then pushed. An agent pushes another woman near Preddy, who then steps in with an open hand up, then turns away from the agent as he’s sprayed with *** chemical. They continually sprayed him even when his back was to them, and then everybody piles on. Based on the video we’ve seen, in your opinion. Was deadly force used correctly on Alex Peretti? Absolutely not. The second case involving Renee Good raises *** different policy question. DHS rules place strict limits on the use of deadly force in and around vehicles. Mark Brown used to train ICE agents and explains the strict rules. The general practice was that They went away from shooting in the moving vehicles. Reeves and Brown add that incidents need to be carefully examined afterward to prevent future violations. Are we debriefing every day after, you know, to see, OK, what are we doing for our own accountability? This is *** major travesty, um. And you, you’re going to have to stick to the policy. The DHS policy states that every agent must be trained in use of force and de-escalation policies at least once *** year, and every 2 years they must conduct less than lethal force training. The policy we reviewed was last updated in 2023. Reporting in Washington, I’m national investigative correspondent John Cardinelli.
Judge says she won’t halt Minnesota immigration enforcement surge as a lawsuit proceeds
The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope
A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policiesA federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.”Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —
A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.
Video above: Examining DHS use-of-force policies
A federal judge says she won’t halt the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota and the Twin Cities as a lawsuit over it proceeds.
Judge Katherine M. Menendez on Saturday denied a preliminary injunction sought in a lawsuit filed this month by state Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
It argued that the Department of Homeland Security is violating constitutional protections. The lawsuit sought a quick order to halt the enforcement action or limit its scope. Lawyers with the U.S. Department of Justice have called the lawsuit “legally frivolous.”
The ruling on the injunction focused on the argument by Minnesota officials that the federal government is violating the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which limits the federal government’s powers to infringe on the sovereignty of states. In her ruling, the judge relied heavily on whether that argument was likely to ultimately succeed in court.
The federal government argued that the surge, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, is necessary in its effort to take criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts have been hindered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.” State and local officials argued that the surge is retaliation after the federal government’s initial attempts to withhold federal funding to try to force immigration cooperation failed.
“Because there is evidence supporting both sides’ arguments as to motivation and the relative merits of each side’s competing positions are unclear, the Court is reluctant to find that the likelihood-of-success factor weighs sufficiently in favor of granting a preliminary injunction,” the judge said in the ruling.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi took to social media Saturday to laud the ruling, calling it “another HUGE” legal win for the Justice Department on X.
Federal officers have fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
Jose Huerta Chuma is a man in hiding — and he’s also a man in distress. He’s been replaying the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti over and over again in his mind, wondering if he could have done something differently and if there’s something that “would have saved that life.”
The 41-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, who said he has been in the U.S. for over two decades, described witnessing the shooting after hiding inside a local business. The Department of Homeland Security has described Huerta Chuma as a criminal living in the U.S. illegally who was the target of the Border Patrol operation that led to the encounter with Pretti on Saturday, Jan. 24.
“I think, maybe if I hadn’t gone to that place, or I don’t know, a little later or a little earlier, I mean, that never would have happened,” Huerta Chuma told CBS News during a phone interview conducted in Spanish.
Asked if he feels some sense of guilt, he said, while crying, his voice fraught with emotion: “I do feel guilty, I do feel bad. I saw stories about the man and I saw a very good person.”
DHS officials have described Huerta Chuma as a “violent criminal illegal alien” on the loose. Documents reviewed by CBS News indicate Huerta Chuma’s record includes traffic violations, and that he pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct misdemeanor offense in 2018. The New York Times reported, citing Minnesota court documents, that the plea was linked to a domestic violence arrest, and that the offense was later expunged.
Huerta Chuma said the domestic violence case stemmed from an argument with his partner at the time. The Minnesota Department of Corrections said in a statement that Huerta Chuma has never been in the state’s prison system and that it did not find felony convictions in his case.
CBS News reached out to representatives for DHS seeking comment about Huerta Chuma’s record and whether officials are still pursuing him.
A shooting witnessed from a hiding spot
In his first public comments, Huerta Chuma told CBS News he immigrated from Ecuador in the early 2000s, in his twenties. Before Pretti’s shooting upended his life, he was raising his American-born children while working as a rideshare driver.
“I’m not a criminal. I just was working that day,” he said. “I was going to pick up the delivery.”
Huerta Chuma said he was on his way to pick up a delivery order around 8:18 a.m. on Jan. 24 in south Minneapolis. (He showed CBS News screenshots of the route from that morning indicating he was in the area where the shooting happened.) It was a routine delivery, similar to the almost 20,000 rides he had done over nearly six years.
As he was driving down Nicollet Avenue, Huerta Chuma said he passed a car driving in the opposite direction.
“One agent was staring at me, but I just blinked my eyes and said, ‘God, they’re immigration,’” Huerta Chuma recalled.
“So, when I looked in the mirror, they turned around immediately.”
Huerta Chuma said the agents, who were in a red car without license plates, started to follow him.
“I didn’t run or anything, I left very calm,” he said. “I saw they were with ICE. I knew in my head they were ICE because they turned around so quickly when they [saw] my face.”
Huerta Chuma said he parked his car, got out, and left the vehicle running. He said federal agents started to follow him, and a man at a local business let him inside,locking the door behind him. Huerta Chuma said he hid there for about 4 hours.
Huerta Chuma said he saw Pretti show up and start filming, and he saw a Border Patrol agent push a woman nearby. He said he saw the agents tackle Pretti to the ground and take his gun.
“It all happened so fast,” he said, noting he did not see Pretti trying to hurt the agents or reach for his firearm.
Then he described the rapid-fire shots: “Tac, tac, tac, tac, tac, tac.”
Huerta Chuma said he watched the ambulance arrive, but knew it was too late. He said he saw federal agents write down his license plate. Then he left.
“It felt horrible. To be watching and not being able to do anything,” Huerta Chuma said. “I don’t know how long I will be like this.”
Initial public statements at odds with evidence, official report
Immediately after the shooting Huerta Chuma witnessed, DHS officials made sweeping statements about Pretti and his actions, some of which have since been directly contradicted by videos, witness accounts and a preliminary government report.
DHS initially said one Border Patrol agent fired “defensive shots” after Pretti “approached” agents with his firearm. The department suggested, without citing concrete evidence, that Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents.
A report to Congress obtained by CBS News earlier this week found that two U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents fired their weapons during the Jan. 24 shooting. The report, based on a “preliminary review” by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, also did not mention Pretti reaching for his firearm.
Video analyzed by CBS News shows an agent had removed the gun from Pretti’s waistband one second before another agent fired the first shot.
Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who has since been reassigned following the bipartisan backlash triggered by Pretti’s killing, described Huerta Chuma as an “illegal alien” during a press conference hours after the deadly shooting. Pointing to a booking photo, Bovino said Huerta Chuma’s record included “domestic assault,” “disorderly conduct” and “driving without a license.”
In a statement two days later, DHS branded Huerta Chuma a “violent criminal illegal alien” who remained “at large,” asking the public to call a government hotline with any tips regarding his whereabouts.
Huerta Chuma said the government was displaying an older picture from after he was arrested in 2018 during an altercation with his wife.
Out of work and on the run
Huerta Chuma did not reveal his whereabouts to CBS News. He said he was worried about his safety, his work and what would happen to his three children born in the U.S. Huerta Chuma said he has two children, ages 11 and 15, who live with him, and another child, a 3-year-old, who lives with the mother. CBS News attempted to reach the children’s mother but did not receive a response.
Information accessed through the Justice Department’s immigration court system says Huerta Chuma’s deportation case was administratively closed in May 2022. The immigration court records do not list a deportation order. Huerta Chuma said he has since applied for a “U visa,” designed to protect immigrants who are victims of crimes and who have assisted law enforcement investigations.
It’s unclear exactly when and how Huerta Chuma first entered the U.S. Huerta Chuma said he has another child living in Ecuador. Court records indicate that Huerta Chuma does not have a criminal record in his native country.
Huerta Chuma said he started working as a rideshare driver so he could have a flexible schedule and be available for his children. But since the shooting, he said, he hasn’t worked, and is rarely eating or sleeping. He said he is continuing to hide.
Though he’s scared about getting arrested, Huerta Chuma said the main source of his consternation is Pretti’s death.
“I’m very devastated, spiritually. Why did they kill the man? He didn’t do anything,” he said. “I was there. I was there. I saw everything.”
After the recent shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, some police chiefs have joined the mounting criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration blitz.
One voice missing from the fray: LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
This week, the chief reiterated that the department has a close working relationship with federal law enforcement, and said he would not order his officers to enforce a new state law — currently being challenged as unconstitutional — that prohibits the use of face coverings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents.
Top police brass nationwide rarely criticize their federal partners, relying on collaboration to investigate gangs, extremist groups and other major criminals — while also counting on millions in funding from Washington each year.
McDonnell and the LAPD have found themselves in an especially tough position, longtime department observers say. The city has been roiled by immigration raids and protests, and local leaders, including Mayor Karen Bass, have blasted the White House. But with the World Cup and Olympics coming soon — events that will require coordination with the feds — the chief has been choosing his words carefully.
Over the past year, McDonnell has fallen back on the message that the LAPD has a long-standing policy of not getting involved in civil immigration enforcement. Unlike his counterparts in Minneapolis, Portland and Philadelphia, he has largely avoided public comment on the tactics used by federal agents, saving his strongest criticism for protesters accused of vandalism or violence.
In a radio interview last spring, the chief said that “it’s critical that in a city as big, a city that’s as big a target for terrorism as Los Angeles, that we have a very close working relationship with federal, state and local partners.” He boasted that the LAPD had “best relationship in the nation in that regard.”
McDonnell stood beside FBI Director Kash Patel on an airport tarmac last week to announce the capture of a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of trafficking tons of cocaine through Los Angeles. Then, at a news conference Thursday in which city officials touted historically low homicide totals, McDonnell said LAPD officials were as “disturbed” as everyone else by events in other parts of the country, alluding to Pretti’s shooting without mentioning him by name. He said the department would continue to work closely with federal agencies on non-immigration matters.
Explaining his stance on not enforcing the mask ban, McDonnell said he wouldn’t risk asking his officers to approach “another armed agency creating conflict for something that” amounted to a misdemeanor offense.
“It’s not a good policy decision and it wasn’t well thought out in my opinion,” he said.
Elsewhere, law enforcement leaders, civil rights advocates and other legal experts have decried how ICE agents and other federal officers have been flouting best practices when making street arrests, conducting crowd control and maintaining public safety amid mass protests.
After a shooting by agents of two people being sought for arrest in Portland, Ore., in mid-January, the city’s chief of police gave a tearful news conference saying he had sought to understand Latino residents “through your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger.”
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal set off a social media firestorm after she referred to ICE agents as “made-up, fake, wannabe law enforcement.”
In Minneapolis, where the Trump administration has deployed 3,000 federal agents, police Chief Brian O’Hara reportedly warned his officers in private that they would lose their jobs if they failed to intervene when federal agents use force. And in a news conference this week, New Orleans’ police superintendent questioned ICE’s arrest of one of the agency’s recruits.
The second-guessing has also spread to smaller cities like Helena, Mont., whose city’s police chief pulled his officers out of a regional drug task force over its decision to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Over the weekend, the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the nation’s largest and most influential police chief group, called on the White House to convene local, state and federal law enforcement partners for “policy-level discussions aimed at identifying a constructive path forward.”
McDonnell’s backers argue that the role of chief is apolitical, though many of his predecessors became national voices that shaped public safety policy. Speaking out, the chief’s supporters say, risks inviting backlash from the White House and could also affect the long pipeline of federal money the department relies on, for instance, to help fund de-escalation training for officers.
Assemblyman Mark González (D-Los Angeles) was among those who opposed McDonnell over his willingness to work with ICE while serving as Los Angeles County sheriff, but said he now considers him a “great partner” who has supported recent anti-crime legislation.
So he said was disappointed by McDonnell’s unwillingness to call out racial profiling and excessive force by federal agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
“We have to trust in a chief who is able to say ICE engaging and detaining 5-year-old kids and detaining flower vendors is not what this system was set up to do,” said González, the Assembly’s majority whip. “It would help when you’d have law enforcement back up a community that they serve.”
Inside the LAPD, top officials have supported McDonnell’s balancing act, suggesting that promises by officials in other cities to detain ICE agents rang hollow.
“Have you seen them arrest any? No,” said Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton.
LAPD officers serve on nearly three dozen task forces with federal officials, where they share information and resources to track down criminals, said Hamilton, the department’s chief of detectives. Cooperating with federal partners is essential to tasks including combating “human trafficking on Figueroa” and dismantling international theft rings, he said. As part of these investigations, both sides pool intelligence — arrangements that some privacy rights groups warn are now being exploited in the government’s immigration crackdown.
Hamilton said that “there’s nothing occurring right now that’s going to affect our relationship with the federal government across the board.”
Art Acevedo, a former chief in Houston and Miami, said that for any big-city chief, taking an official position on an issue as divisive as immigration can be complicated.
Being seen as coming out against President Trump comes with “some political risks,” he said.
But chiefs in immigrant-rich cities like Houston and L.A. must weigh that against the potentially irreparable damage to community trust from failing to condemn the recent raids, he said.
“When you don’t speak out, the old adage that silence is deafening is absolutely true. You end up losing the public and you end up putting your own people at risk,” he said. “The truth is that when you are police chief you have a bully pulpit, and what you say or fail to say is important.”
Those with experience on the federal side of the issue said it cuts both ways.
John Sandweg, the former director of ICE under President Obama, said that federal authorities need local cops and the public to feed them info and support operations, but the immigration agency’s “zero tolerance” approach was putting such cooperation “in jeopardy.”
“Ideally, in a perfect world, ICE is able to work within immigrant communities to identify the really bad actors,” he said. “But when you have this zero tolerance, when the quantity of arrests matters far more than the quality of arrests, you eliminate any ability to have that cooperation.”
Times staff writers Brittny Mejia, Ruben Vives and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Amid ongoing immigration operations in Minnesota, a local company is filling a desperate need for on-demand legal help.
TurnSignl was started in 2020 by attorney and former mayoral candidate Jazz Hampton. He developed it after George Floyd was murdered, to connect drivers to an attorney when they’ve been pulled over. But now they’re filling another huge void: on-demand legal help for people stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They’re doing the review of cases in Texas and then they’re finding out, oh this person does have legal status we have to send them back,” said Hampton. “The level of disorganization is, to me, startling.”
He recently waited inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building for 90 minutes, only to find out his client, who was returned from Texas, was in a rural Minnesota jail.
“Finally an agent just took down the person I was looking for – their name and went and called throughout the cells to try to find that person,” said Hampton.
He says his client is someone who never should have been picked up by ICE in the first place.
“This is a situation where it was someone who was actively seeking asylum and having a pending case. They had work papers and were actively working, contributing to our society and paying taxes. They were picked up, taken to another state, returned back to this state, and then the family was just trying to figure out where they were,” said Hampton.
WCCO asked if he felt federal immigration agents are following the law.
WCCO
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I believe ICE is acting unconstitutionally in our streets continuously,” said Hampton.
But he’s also making sure more people have access to attorneys like him.
“It’s all hands on deck in this moment,” said Hampton. “There’s a leveling of knowledge and playing field that happens when an attorney’s present and that driver can say, ‘I’m talking to an immigration attorney right now,’ and they said, ‘These papers are sufficient. I’m going to hand them to you,’” said Hampton.
Here’s how it works: Say you’re pulled over by an ICE agent. You would just open the app and it will connect you with a live attorney. The app even has translation services.
“This is being saved directly to the cloud so even if your phone is lost, damaged, stolen or anything in between, it’s going to save that video for you and you’ll always have access to it,” said Hampton.
The app also gives the attorney location information on where you are as a user. Translated captions are available in 50 languages, removing the language barrier.
There are sponsors for people who can’t afford the service, so all who need it have access to a legal lifeline in the face of an immigration crackdown.
“We just try to give courage that we will go there and fight as much as we can,” said Hampton, adding that we are in uncharted territory.
Hampton says several large employers are providing this service for employees. If you’d like to do the same or donate memberships to others you can do that too. A subscription is $99 a year for unlimited access.
For many, February rent is due in two days, and increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity is keeping some from going to work.
Help lines at the Greater Twin Cities United Way are seeing a surge in need. Housing assistance calls are up 60%, overwhelming organizations trying to respond.
Denia is a single mother of three. Fear has taken over her life. She hasn’t worked since December, not because she doesn’t want to, but because leaving home feels dangerous.
“We feel desperate, locked in. We are afraid even to take out the trash or check the mail,” Denia said in Spanish.
She asked WCCO not to show her face due to her immigration status. Without income, she’s constantly worried about rent and keeping food in the fridge.
Advocates say her story reflects a growing crisis. Families are calling in for help in unprecedented numbers.
Shannon Smith Jones with Greater Twin Cities United Way says calls to 211, the confidential 24/7 call center that connects people with locally available help, have skyrocketed.
“We took in over 6,000 calls in a week. Our housing has increased by over 140%,” Jones said.
Calls for food assistance are up 120%. And in one day, the Spanish-speaking line reached 1,000 calls, that’s up from 65 on an average day.
“The need is exploding, and we are doing our best to keep up with demand,” Jones said.
Greater Twin Cities United Way continues to work to meet the need. In January alone, the nonprofit distributed nearly $200,000 in resources.
Jones said they are working to expand their language lines and adjusting staffing levels to keep up.
Families in need are encouraged to reach out to local nonprofit organizations or call 211 to get routed to the right organization.
For Denia, she says her dream is to go back to work again and live freely with her children.
For more information on Greater Twin Cities United Way, click here.
Crowds gathered across the U.S. on Friday to protest immigration enforcement actions. Thousands have taken to the streets in Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and beyond as activists call for a nationwide strike to protest ICE. CBS News’ Ian Lee reports on protests in Minneapolis.
Journalist Don Lemon was arrested in Los Angeles, his attorney and multiple sources with direct knowledge told CBS News. The arrest comes nearly two weeks after Lemon was at an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a service at a church in Minnesota. Matt Gutman reports.
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.Lemon was arrested Thursday while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota.The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”The four were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation with the organization that went into the church, and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted online. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”‘Keep trying’Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort’s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.Discouraging scrutinyJane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group called it an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews told The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”Protesters charged previouslyA prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.“I feel like it’s important that if you’re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,” Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in “direct action, certainly within the lines of the law.”Church leaders praise arrests in protestCities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.___Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
LOS ANGELES —
Journalist Don Lemon was released from custody Friday after he was arrested and hit with federal civil rights charges over his coverage of an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a Minnesota church.
Lemon was arrested Thursday while across the country in Los Angeles, while another independent journalist and two protest participants were arrested in Minnesota. He struck a confident, defiant tone while speaking to reporters after a court appearance in California.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon declared.
The arrests brought sharp criticism from news media advocates and civil rights activists including the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said the Trump administration is taking a “sledgehammer” to “the knees of the First Amendment.”
Lemon and others were indicted on charges of conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official is a pastor.
In federal court in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Robbins argued for a $100,000 bond, telling a judge that Lemon “knowingly joined a mob that stormed into a church.” He was released, however, without having to post money and was granted permission to travel to France in June while the case is pending.
Defense attorney Marilyn Bednarski said Lemon plans to plead not guilty and fight the charges.
Lemon, who was fired from CNN in 2023 following a bumpy run as a morning host, has said he has no affiliation to the organization that went into the church and he was there as a solo journalist chronicling protesters.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi promoted the arrests on social media.
“Make no mistake. Under President Trump’s leadership and this administration, you have the right to worship freely and safely,” Bondi said in a video posted online. “And if I haven’t been clear already, if you violate that sacred right, we are coming after you.”
‘Keep trying’
Since he left CNN, Lemon has joined the legion of journalists who have gone into business for themselves, posting regularly on YouTube. He hasn’t hidden his disdain for President Donald Trump. Yet during his online show from the church, he said repeatedly: “I’m not here as an activist. I’m here as a journalist.” He described the scene before him and interviewed churchgoers and demonstrators.
A magistrate judge last week rejected prosecutors’ initial bid to charge the veteran journalist. Shortly after, he predicted on his show that the administration would try again.
“And guess what,” he said. “Here I am. Keep trying. That’s not going to stop me from being a journalist. That’s not going to diminish my voice. Go ahead, make me into the new Jimmy Kimmel, if you want. Just do it. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
Georgia Fort livestreamed the moments before her arrest, telling viewers that agents were at her door and her First Amendment right as a journalist was being diminished.
A judge released Fort, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy on bond, rejecting the Justice Department’s attempt to keep them in custody. Not guilty pleas were entered. Fort’s supporters in the courtroom clapped and whooped.
“It’s a sinister turn of events in this country,” Fort’s attorney, Kevin Riach, said in court.
Discouraging scrutiny
Jane Kirtley, a media law and ethics expert at the University of Minnesota, said the federal laws cited by the government were not intended to apply to reporters gathering news.
The charges against Lemon and Fort, she said, are “pure intimidation and government overreach.”
Some experts and activists said the charges were not only an attack on press freedoms but also a strike against Black Americans who count on Black journalists to bear witness to injustice and oppression.
The National Association of Black Journalists said it was “outraged and deeply alarmed” by Lemon’s arrest. The group called it an effort to “criminalize and threaten press freedom under the guise of law enforcement.”
Crews is a leader of Black Lives Matter Minnesota who has led many protests and actions for racial justice, particularly following George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis in 2020.
“All the greats have been to jail, MLK, Malcom X — people who stood up for justice get attacked,” Crews told The Associated Press. “We were just practicing our First Amendment rights.”
Protesters charged previously
A prominent civil rights attorney and two other people involved in the protest were arrested last week. Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.
The Justice Department launched an investigation after the group interrupted services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good,” referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Lundy, a candidate for state Senate, works for the office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and is married to a St. Paul City Council member. Lemon briefly interviewed him as they gathered with protesters preparing to drive to the church on Jan. 18.
“I feel like it’s important that if you’re going to be representing people in office that you are out here with the people,” Lundy told Lemon, adding he believed in “direct action, certainly within the lines of the law.”
Church leaders praise arrests in protest
Cities Church belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention and lists one of its pastors as David Easterwood, who leads ICE’s St. Paul field office.
“We are grateful that the Department of Justice acted swiftly to protect Cities Church so that we can continue to faithfully live out the church’s mission to worship Jesus and make him known,” lead pastor Jonathan Parnell said.
___
Richer and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Dave Bauder and Aaron Morrison in New York; Giovanna Dell’Orto, Tim Sullivan, Steve Karnowski and Jack Brook in Minneapolis; and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed.
Hours after federal officers arrested journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon Friday, Fort’s family, colleagues and Minnesota media leaders gathered at Minneapolis City Hall to issue a stark warning: the freedom of the press — and democracy at large — are under attack.
Fort and Lemon were two of the journalists who entered Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on Jan. 18 to cover a protest focused on one of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, who also leads Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s St. Paul field office.
Fort livestreamed the moment when she said federal officers arrived at her Twin Cities home early Friday, with her children’s weeping audible in the background.
“This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media,” Fort said. “It’s hard to understand how we have a Constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press.”
At Friday morning’s City Hall news conference, journalist Harry Colbert Jr., vice president of the Center for Broadcast Journalism — which Fort co-founded and currently leads — addressed his fellow journalists on the other side of the camera.
“If you think for one moment that you are protected, this is the wake-up call to let us know that [press badges] don’t stop arrests. They don’t stop the death threats that we get for doing our job. These don’t do a damn thing,” Colbert said. “Journalism is under attack. The First Amendment is under attack and democracy is crumbling. If we allow this to happen, if we allow this to happen, if we don’t speak up in the loudest voice, all of our so-called freedoms, our illusion of freedom, goes away.”
Fort’s eldest daughter briefly took the microphone to highlight the terrifying moment of her mother’s arrest.
“My 7- and 8-year-old sisters woke up today without a mom. My father woke up today without his wife. I’m demanding that my mom gets released. The separation of families will never be right,” Fort’s daughter said.
Sheree Curry, co-president of the National Association of Black Journalists, noted how Fort’s independence and entrepreneurial spirit puts her at extra risk.
“It’s very important that people like her, independent journalists especially, be protected. They do not have the same type of backing, as an independent journalist, as someone would who works for a media outlet,” Curry said. “Attacking a journalist, it is attacking all of us as citizens.”
Jasmine McBride, editor of the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder — the state’s oldest Black-owned business — spoke about Fort’s immense impact on her life and career. McBride said she was the first hire at Fort’s BLCK Press media company.
“[Fort] is a leader, she’s a truth teller, she’s been, she’s the most consistent person I know,” McBride said. “Her goal has always been illuminating what needs to be illuminated, illuminating the truth and standing by that, even if it means putting her in the position that she currently is today.”
Perhaps the most impassioned speaker at Friday’s conference was Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who urged U.S. journalists to “stop pandering” to the Trump administration.
“Stop giving them the voice that they don’t need. You have allowed them to create headlines that are false and lies. They are lying to the American public about everything that is happening, and you have allowed for them to get away with lies every single day,” Hussein said. “It is time to stand up. If you didn’t stand up for the Somali American community or our civil rights leaders, you should stand up for your colleagues, your colleagues in journalism.”
Almost since the time ICE arrived in Minnesota, protesters have been gathering at the Bishop Henry Whipple Building in Minneapolis, which has served as the headquarters for federal agents.
Friday they were joined by dozens of clergy and community leaders as part of faith-based rally.
“I’m not here to protest but I’m here to offer support for folks if they need it,” said Nathan Lyke.
Lyke is an Evangelical Lutheran pastor and one of the people who helped organize Friday morning’s march and rally. He said as a man of faith, he’s here to support those who are hurting. And he believes better days are ahead.
“Can we work together for a better outcome? I do have faith. Otherwise I better be sitting at home. Look at me, I might as well be sitting on my couch and not freezing,” said Lyke.
In addition to clergy, community leaders and educators turned out in frigid conditions. The group said their mantra is simple.
“If it is illegal to care for our neighbors, to stand up for our neighbors, to watch out for our neighbors. To feed them. Then we are all breaking the law because we have all been doing that,” said protester, who didn’t want to be named.
The crowd said another reason for being at the Whipple on Friday is to stand in solidarity against the prosecution of people observing ICE activity.
They said 22 people now face federal charges. The Trump administration has said those people attacked federal agents.
“It’s not about Republican, liberal, Democrat, whatever the hell you want to call it. It’s about your rights. Your First, Second, Third, Fourth Amendment rights,” said Danielle Charging, a protester.
“I think there’s a lot of anger. I think there’s a lot of fear that’s turned into anger,” said Brinsley, a protester.
Xavier Carrigan drove from Des Moines, Iowa to be at the Whipple building.
“It’s a no-brainer to come up here man. It’s what you do for your neighbors. It’s what you do for you neighbors in the states. It’s what you do for your neighbors in support,” said Carrigan.
“I’ve lost my voice but I haven’t lost my will,” said Jason Chaffee.
Chaffee said he’s been here nearly every day for weeks. On Friday, the Minneapolis musician held a drum in one hand and a gas mask in the other.
“I just want everybody to stay safe and Minnesota strong. This community is the most amazing community I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” said Chaffee.
Protesters said part of the purpose of Friday morning’s rally was to also honor the lives of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Community members organized a sit-in at the Dinkytown Target on Friday.
It’s part of broader protests calling on the Minneapolis-based retailer to respond more directly to immigration enforcement.
Demonstrators outside the location near the University of Minnesota want the company — long seen as a community institution — to publicly oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on its properties, and ban agents from entering stores.
“ICE has been staging operations at Target parking lots all across the city,” organizer Elan Axelbank said.
“Seven hundred small businesses closed on the 23rd in solidarity with a general strike. Target stayed open,” protester Chris Gray said.
The group planned on a sit-in, but officers waiting at the doorway stopped them from advancing.
Target declined to comment on the protest.
Tensions have been high since a video went viral earlier this month showing immigration agents on top of two Target employees in the entrance of a store in Richfield, Minnesota. After an apparent verbal dispute, ICE put the workers in the back of an SUV. Soon after, both men were released.
This week, company leadership sent internal messages focused on safety and protocols. Target’s incoming CEO also joined 60 other business leaders calling for de-escalation after the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
“Well, Alex Pretti was my neighbor,” Gray said. “He was shot in the street and I think about it, I think about like, wow, dying, being pepper-sprayed on cold concrete sounds horrific.”
“I gotta carry my passport just to leave the house,” said a man who wasn’t a part of the protest, but supports it. “I got family members that got stopped [by ICE] and they’re all citizens.”
The retailer is in a difficult spot. Anyone, including officers, can enter public areas of a business. Legal experts say permission is required only in a private space, like a back office.
“Of course they can ban people,Target doesn’t want to upset Trump,” Axelbank said.
From what WCCO witnessed, Friday’s demonstrations were peaceful.
There are more sit-ins planned at various Targets on Saturday.
Independent Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort and two others were released from law enforcement custody Friday afternoon after being arrested over what Attorney General Pam Bondi says was a “coordinated attack” involving anti-ICE protests at Cities Church in St. Paul earlier this month.
Prosecutors in court sought detention because, they say, Fort committed a crime of violence. Fort’s attorney, Kevin Rich, pushed back strongly, citing other recent arguments in the church protest that denied that detention. A judge agreed with Rich and denied a request from prosecutors that she stay away from the church.
Bondi also announced that former CNN anchor Don Lemon had also been arrested, alongside Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lyndell Lundy, the latter of whom is presently running for the state’s 65th senate district.
Crews and Lundy were released from custody on Friday afternoon.
Prosecutors say they were involved in a protest that arose upon the discovery that a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also serves as a pastor at the church.
Fort went live on Facebook for two minutes Friday morning, telling viewers that federal agents were at her door to arrest her, and she was going to go with them to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in south Minneapolis, which has served as the processing and detention center for those taken into custody during Operation Metro Surge.
“Agents are at my door right now. They’re saying that they were able to go before a grand jury sometime, I guess, in the last 24 hours, and that they have a warrant for my arrest,” Fort said in her livestream. “I’m gonna have to hop here and surrender to agents as a member of the press.”
In Fort’s video, children can be heard crying in the background.
“This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media,” Fort said. “It’s hard to understand how we have a Constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press.”
Fort said she was aware that she was on a list of defendants, but did not publish it because it was sealed.
“It is an outrage that a vetted and credentialed member of the media would be in any way prosecuted for doing her appointed duty in covering news. If the federal government can come for Georgia no member of the supposed ‘free’ press is safe,” a representative for the Center for Broadcast Journalism said Friday morning. “Fort, who has been a frontline journalist in multiple media markets, is one of the more valued members of our Twin Cities media landscape. A three-time Emmy winner, Fort was one of the only reporters allowed inside the courtroom during the landmark trial of Derek Chauvin.”
Friday’s arrests aren’t the first connected with the protest at the church. Last week, former Twin Cities NAACP president Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly were also arrested and later released. The White House tipped further furor when it posted an altered photo of Levy Armstrong’s arrest to make it appear as though she was crying while in handcuffs.
Federal prosecutors in the Minneapolis-based U.S. Attorney’s office had significant concerns with the strength of the evidence in the church protests, a source familiar with the matter told CBS.
When the first defendants were initially charged, no career officials from that office appeared in court, and the Justice Department sent two lawyers from the Civil Rights Division in Washington to handle the proceedings.
The magistrate judge in the case only approved one civil rights charge in those original cases against Armstrong and Allen, but nixed a FACE Act charge against each person on the grounds that there was no probable cause. A third defendant was later charged in connection with the protest as well.
The magistrate judge, Doug Micko, also outright rejected five arrest warrants in the case for lacking probable cause, including Lemon’s, CBS previously reported.
Bondi also announced this week the arrests of 16 others for alleged assaults on immigration enforcement officers during Operation Metro Surge.
On Friday, faith and community leaders and other volunteers are set to demonstrate at the Whipple building over the Trump administration’s “moves to escalate its attacks on Minnesotans’ freedoms.”
The Department of Justice is participating in a civil rights investigation into the death of Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by two Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis amid a federal immigration crackdown.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stopped short of formally calling it a civil rights investigation, however, and declined to discuss the scope of what the FBI will be examining. He said he did not want to overstate the move, and instead characterized it as a “standard investigation by the FBI when there are circumstances like what we saw last Saturday.”
“And that investigation, to the extent it needs to involve lawyers at the civil rights division, it will involve those,” he said at a press conference.
Blanche said he would not commit to releasing any body camera footage of the shooting.
The announcement comes after the FBI on Friday said it would lead the investigation into Pretti’s shooting.
Previously, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations branch had been spearheading the probe, an unusual move according to current and former law enforcement officials. HSI is not typically tasked with investigating law enforcement shootings and does not have the equipment to handle such evidence, the officials said.
In response to news of the investigation, Walz said “Trump’s right hand cannot be responsible for investigating his left hand. We need an independent, impartial investigation now.”
Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was the second U.S. citizen killed in Minneapolis by federal agents this month. Renee Good, a mother and poet, was killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7.
After Good’s shooting and the decision not to open a civil rights investigation into her death, several career prosecutors in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, as well as in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota, resigned.
Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis earlier this week pressed the U.S. attorney over the lack of a civil rights investigation and warned that more resignations could come.
In a statement to WCCO, Pretti’s family attorney said “The family’s focus is on a fair and impartial investigation that examines the facts around his murder.”
Some strangers mistake the pest-control company manager for Latino, he said, and he fears getting caught up in ICE raids.
Like Mantz, many Native Americans are carrying tribal documents proving their U.S. citizenship in case they are stopped or questioned by federal immigration agents. This is why dozens of the 575 federally recognized Native nations are making it easier to get tribal IDs. They’re waiving fees, lowering the age of eligibility — ranging from 5 to 18 nationwide — and printing the cards faster.
It’s the first time tribal IDs have been widely used as proof of U.S. citizenship and protection against federal law enforcement, said David Wilkins, an expert on Native politics and governance at the University of Richmond.
“I don’t think there’s anything historically comparable,” Wilkins said. “I find it terribly frustrating and disheartening.”
As Native Americans around the country rush to secure documents proving their right to live in the United States, many see a bitter irony.
“As the first people of this land, there’s no reason why Native Americans should have their citizenship questioned,” said Jaqueline De León, a senior staff attorney with the nonprofit Native American Rights Fund and member of Isleta Pueblo.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to more than four requests for comment over a week.
Since the mid- to late 1800s, the U.S. government has kept detailed genealogical records to estimate Native Americans’ fraction of “Indian blood” and determine their eligibility for health care, housing, education and other services owed under federal legal responsibilities. Those records were also used to aid federal assimilation efforts and chip away at tribal sovereignty, communal lands and identity.
Beginning in the late 1960s, many tribal nations began issuing their own forms of identification. In the last two decades, tribal photo ID cards have become commonplace and can be used to vote in tribal elections, to prove U.S. work eligibility and for domestic air travel.
About 70% of Native Americans today live in urban areas, including tens of thousands in the Twin Cities, one of the largest urban Native populations in the country.
There, in early January, a top ICE official announced the “largest immigration operation ever.”
Masked, heavily armed agents traveling in convoys of unmarked SUVs became commonplace in some neighborhoods. By this week, more than 3,400 people had been arrested, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least 2,000 ICE officers and 1,000 Border Patrol officers were on the ground.
Representatives from at least 10 tribes traveled hundreds of miles to Minneapolis — the birthplace of the American Indian Movement — to accept ID applications from members there. Among them were the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe of Wisconsin, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of North Dakota.
Turtle Mountain citizen Faron Houle renewed his tribal ID card and got his young adult son’s and his daughter’s first ones.
“You just get nervous,” Houle said. “I think (ICE agents are) more or less racial profiling people, including me.”
Events in downtown coffee shops, hotel ballrooms, and at the Minneapolis American Indian Center helped urban tribal citizens connect and share resources, said Christine Yellow Bird, who directs the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s satellite office in Fargo, North Dakota.
Yellow Bird made four trips to Minneapolis in recent weeks, putting nearly 2,000 miles on her 2017 Chevy Tahoe to help citizens in the Twin Cities who can’t make the long journey to their reservation.
Yellow Bird said she always keeps her tribal ID with her.
“I’m proud of who I am,” she said. “I never thought I would have to carry it for my own safety.”
Last year, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said that several tribal citizens reported being stopped and detained by ICE officers in Arizona and New Mexico. He and other tribal leaders have advised citizens to carry tribal IDs with them at all times.
Last November, Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and an actress known for her roles in “Northern Exposure” and “The Last of Us,” said she was stopped by ICE officers in Washington state who told her that her tribal ID looked fake.
The Oglala Sioux Tribe this week banned ICE from its reservation in southwestern South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, one of the largest in the country.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota said a member was detained in Minnesota last weekend. And Peter Yazzie, who is Navajo, said he was arrested and held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix for several hours last week.
Yazzie, a construction worker from nearby Chinle, Arizona, said he was sitting in his car at a gas station preparing for a day of work when he saw ICE officers arrest some Latino men. The officers soon turned their attention to Yazzie, pushed him to the ground, and searched his vehicle, he said.
He said he told them where to find his driver’s license, birth certificate, and a federal Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood. Yazzie said the car he was in is registered to his mother. Officers said the names didn’t match, he said, and he was arrested, taken to a nearby detention center and held for about four hours.
“It’s an ugly feeling. It makes you feel less human. To know that people see your features and think so little of you,” he said.
DHS did not respond to questions about the arrest.
Mantz, the Choctaw Nation citizen, said he runs pest-control operations in Minneapolis neighborhoods where ICE agents are active and he won’t leave home without his tribal identification documents.
Securing them for his children is now a priority.
“It gives me some peace of mind. But at the same time, why do we have to carry these documents?” Mantz said. “Who are you to ask us to prove who we are?”
During the tumultuous period that preceded the Civil War, the United States passed a series of bills that came to be collectively known as the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise allowed for California’s entry into the Union as a free state, and outlawed the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in the District of Columbia. The most controversial element of the legislation, however, was the Fugitive Slave Act. Article IV of the Constitution already required that an enslaved person who escaped into a free state be returned to bondage, but the 1850 law created a federal bureaucracy to facilitate it. As the historian Andrew Delbanco notes in his book “The War Before the War,” a history of the national conflict over fugitive slaves, the Compromise “was meant to be a remedy and a salve, but it turned out to be an incendiary event that lit the fuse that led to civil war.”
The law was heavily weighted, in that it offered a fee of ten dollars to magistrates who ruled that an individual should be returned to slavery, but only five to those who ruled that the person should remain free. Even more controversially, it charged federal commissioners with enforcing the law, and they worked with loosely regulated agents, who made it their own business to track down fugitives and return them to slavery. These so-deemed slave catchers had a long reputation for conducting rogue operations. As Delbanco notes, “Even free black people in the North—including those who had never been enslaved—found their lives infused with the terror of being seized and deported on the pretext that they had once belonged to someone in the South.” Given that as many as a hundred thousand people escaped slavery and found refuge in free states in the nineteenth century, fugitives represented a population residing illegally within largely sympathetic communities—a fact that incensed hard-liners on the slavery issue. Seeking a middle ground, Senator Henry Clay, of Kentucky, who introduced the Compromise, imagined that the law would placate irate Southerners who fumed at the monetary losses that escaped slaves represented, but few lawmakers foresaw the impact that it would have in the North.
Even in the free states, attitudes toward slavery were complicated. A raft of economic, social, and religious dynamics had resulted in the abolition or prohibition of slavery, but that did not automatically mean that the entire population favored racial equality or abolition in general. (When Northern states began abolishing slavery after the American Revolution, many slaveholders opted to sell their chattel to buyers in the South rather than manumit them.) At the same time, the Fugitive Slave Act replaced the more complicated questions about the institution with a single, less complicated one: Were Northerners prepared to watch their neighbors, many of whom had lived in their communities for years, be violently removed from their homes or grabbed off the streets? For many, the answer was no.
Attempted enforcement of the law met with immediate resistance. In 1851, an armed mob surrounded a group of agents led by a slaveholder, Edward Gorsuch, in Christiana, Pennsylvania, who were attempting to return four fugitives to his farm, in Maryland; Gorsuch was shot and killed. The four, along with others who participated in the standoff, escaped, and some reached Canada with the assistance of Frederick Douglass. In Syracuse, New York, Oberlin, Ohio, and other cities, crowds swarmed jails where captured fugitives were held in other successful efforts to free them, at the risk of their own prosecution. (In 1854, fifty thousand people filled the streets of Boston, a center of abolitionist resistance, to protest against returning Anthony Burns, a Black man who had escaped from slavery in Virginia, to that state. (When that effort failed, a group privately purchased Burns’s freedom and facilitated his return to Massachusetts.)
The significance of this history is twofold. The Fugitive Slave Act was rhetorically useful for a certain element of the political class, but for most people it took an issue that they may have felt ambivalent about—or hadn’t much thought about at all—and gave them a direct, visceral reason to feel very strongly about it. Slavery might have been an abstract national concern, but the fate of a neighbor, whom people may have depended upon as a part of their community, was very much a personal one. Something akin to that reaction is occurring in communities across the U.S. now, as social-media feeds fill with images of children being harassed by ICE agents as they leave school and of a five-year-old boy being detained, and of adults being shoved to the ground and pepper-sprayed or pulled from their cars after agents smash the windows. The Fugitive Slave Act is remembered by historians for its ironic effect: designed as a means of cooling the simmering regional tensions over slavery, the law effectively made it the most contentious issue facing the nation. It pushed Americans toward the realization that the nation was bound in what William Seward later termed an “irrepressible conflict.”