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Tag: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

  • Feds prevent faith leaders from providing pastoral care to detainees at Whipple, lawsuit says

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    A lawsuit filed Monday against the Department of Homeland Security accuses federal agents at the Bishop Henry Whipple Building in Minneapolis of barring faith leaders from offering prayer and pastoral guidance to detainees.

    Denying people in custody from receiving ministry or spiritual comfort is a violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the suit says. 

    Groundwork Legal and Saul Ewing are representing the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ and Father Christopher Collins, a Jesuit priest. The DHS, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Head Todd Lyons are among those listed as defendants.

    The Whipple Building near Fort Snelling serves as the epicenter of ICE’s operations in Minnesota. Rep. Kelly Morrison, who visited the site earlier this month, said she saw people in leg shackles on cold cement floors with no beds or blankets.

    According to the lawsuit, faith leaders have been leading prayer vigils at the Whipple Building since at least 2018.

    In December, during the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Collins attempted to enter Whipple to pray for a woman, but he was blocked from accessing the building and ministering, the lawsuit says.

    Last week on Ash Wednesday, a reverend attempted to provide care and impose ashes on the holy day of prayer, but was denied access. The lawsuit says she was directed to an ICE waiting room and was told by a federal employee that she would not be permitted to access anyone inside for “security” and “safety” reasons.

    The employee said that faith leaders had tried to enter the building four times a week since the onset of Operation Metro Surge, but had been denied each time, according to the suit. A clergy member attempted to provide care as recently as Monday morning, but was denied.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security in a written statement about the lawsuit said, “The Whipple Federal Building is not a detention facility—it is a field office. Illegal aliens are only briefly held there for processing before being transferred to a detention facility. Religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities. It is not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out.” 

    “Constitutional rights do not disappear at the doors of the Whipple,” said Irina Vaynerman, CEO of Groundwork Legal. “The way we treat those in detention or facing deportation is one of the true litmus tests of our democracy. Pastoral care allows for detainees to be treated with humanity, instead of being treated like inventory.” 

    Conditions at the Whipple building have been under scrutiny since the beginning of the federal government’s enhanced immigration enforcement operation in the state. U.S. citizens who have been taken into custody at the site have described agonizing cries coming from other detainees inside the building, including children. 

    A recent lawsuit accused federal agents of denying detainees access to a lawyer, prompting a federal judge to order the DHS to give immigrants immediate access to legal assistance before they are transferred out of the state.

    Last week during a Congressional oversight visit, Reps. Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig said the building was “completely empty,” as ICE had moved detainees into certain county jails. 

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    Aki Nace

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  • Despite claims of a drawdown in Minnesota, suburban observers say ICE still active as ever

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    As federal officials have announced a drawdown of federal agents, those on the streets said they still have plenty of sightings.

    On Friday, legal observer Collette Adkins said she spotted masked men in tactical gear and out-of-state plates in the parking lot of the Coon Rapids Police Department.

    “I learned from a neighborhood watch group that there were multiple confirmed ICE vehicles,” Adkins said.

    Adkins said she also saw a man being handcuffed. She called out for him to say his name, but only heard him say his last name: “Martinez.”

    That’s when Adkins said agents sounded their sirens and surrounded her vehicle with theirs.

    “I felt absolute terror in the parking lot that day,” Adkins said. “I absolutely was thinking about what happened to Renee Good that day, and I think a lot of observers have those images go through their minds.”

    Coon Rapids police said there was apparent ICE activity outside the Coon Rapids City Center on Friday, the same building where the police department is located, but they have no information beyond that. WCCO has reached out to DHS for more information.

    After a visit inside the Whipple building Friday, Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar said a field office director told them that fewer than 500 federal agents remain.

    “There has been a drawdown,” Craig said to reporters Friday.

    However, that alleged drawdown is not something Adkins said she is seeing in the northern suburbs.

    “Every day, there’s reports of abductions, of ICE activity. Just this morning, there were numerous confirmed ICE vehicles in the Fridley area,” Adkins said.

    “ICE is still in our community, they’re still in suburbs,” Minneapolis City Councilmember Jason Chavez said.

    The Ward 9 councilmember said he, too, is still seeing confirmed ICE vehicles across south Minneapolis. He was part of a Phillips and Powderhorn neighborhood meeting Sunday, in part, to plan for the future with continued ICE activity.

    “We’re still asking our neighbors to be vigilant. We’re still asking neighbors to support our neighbors, and ICE is still here and we’re just developing next steps,” Chavez said.

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    Jason Rantala

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  • Hundreds march in memory of Alex Pretti nearly one month after his killing

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    Hundreds of people rallied and marched in south Minneapolis Saturday morning to remember the life of Alex Pretti and call for continued change following his death.

    Pretti’s death sparked massive protests and ultimately led to the departure of Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, who had been handling the control of Operation Metro Surge.

    Four weeks later, roughly 500 federal agents remain in Minnesota, according to Democratic U.S. Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar. Border czar Tom Homan has also promised a complete drawdown of additional federal agents.

    For protestors on Saturday, it’s been an encouraging sign.

    “I think there was definitely a shift. While we are nowhere near claiming victory, we’re feeling a lot better,” said an organizer, who asked to be only identified as Wes. “We are seeing record volunteer applications across every org, people wanting to get involved more and more every day.”

    For many in the crowd, however, the attention turns to what’s next. For Hans Jorgensen, of St. Paul, that could involve charges for agents involved in the killings of Pretti and Renee Good.

    “I feel like the district attorney should be pushing to gain as much information as we can – they should not be letting this go at all – it should be one of their primary focuses, to make sure the community knows they are working for us,” Jorgensen said.

    For others, it’s simply moving forward as a community.

    “There’s going to be a lot of healing not only as the families affected, just as the communities as a whole, just because of all the disruption that’s gone on to our economy,” said Sammy Hamlin, of Roseville.

    Saturday’s march ended at the memorial for Pretti, just over a mile away from where demonstrators rallied at Whittier Park. 

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    Adam Duxter

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  • Records show ICE agent fatally shot U.S. citizen nearly a year ago in Texas, as lawmaker seeks public hearing

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    A Texas Democratic lawmaker is invoking a newly created state legislative rule to force a public hearing into the March 2025 fatal shooting of a 23-year-old U.S. citizen by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, CBS News has learned, a case raising further transparency and oversight questions about the officials enforcing President Trump’s deportation crackdown.

    The proposed hearing would examine the shooting death of Ruben Ray Martinez in South Padre Island, Texas, on March 15, 2025. While his death was reported at the time, ICE’s involvement in the shooting was not disclosed until this week, over 11 months after the shooting.

    Democratic Texas state Rep. Ray Lopez, who serves as vice chair of the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs, said he formally exercised authority under Rule 4, Section 6A of the Texas House Rules to compel Committee Chairman Cole Hefner, a Republican, to schedule a hearing on Martinez’s death.

    An undated photo of Ruben Ray Martinez, who was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on March 15, 2025, in South Padre Island, Texas. 

    Rachel Reyes


    Lopez said it is the first public use of the provision, which was adopted during the 89th Legislative Session that concluded last June. The rule requires a committee chair to “promptly schedule” a hearing designated by the vice chair. Lopez requested a written response from Hefner by the end of business on Feb. 23. It was not immediately clear when a hearing might be scheduled.

    Local news outlets in Texas reported on Martinez’ killing last year, but the involvement of federal immigration agents in the fatal shooting was first revealed earlier this week by Newsweek, which used government documents recently released by the American Oversight Project, a nonprofit ethics watchdog, to connect the death with an internal ICE report.

    The internal ICE report, which redacts Martinez’s name, stated that the March 15 incident involved agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE, who were helping South Padre Island police officers control traffic in the late night hours following a major car accident.

    The report describes a blue Ford approaching the area where the ICE agents were directing traffic. The driver of the vehicle “failed to follow instructions,” the internal report reads, and tried to continue driving. After commands from the agents, the report said the vehicle “slowed to a stop.” The agents surrounded the car and directed the driver to exit the vehicle, the report said.

    The driver then “accelerated forward” and struck one of the ICE agents, according to the report, which said the federal officer “wound up on the hood of the vehicle.” At that point, according to the report, another ICE agent fired “multiple rounds” at the driver through an open side window. The driver was given first aid and then transferred to a hospital in Brownsville, where the report said he was pronounced dead. 

    A passenger who was in the vehicle, also a U.S. citizen whose name was redacted, was taken into custody at the scene by South Padre Island police, the report states.

    The agent who was struck by the vehicle was taken to an area hospital with a knee injury, where they were treated and released, ICE said in its report.  

    In a statement provided to CBS News, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, confirmed the fatal shooting, alleging that the driver “intentionally ran over a Homeland Security Investigation special agent resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle. Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public.” 

    DHS said the incident is under investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Ranger Division, and deferred questions to Texas DPS. 

    Christopher Olivarez, a Texas DPS spokesperson, confirmed to CBS News Saturday that an investigation was underway, adding, “We have no further information to provide.” 

    Lopez argued that federal and state authorities failed to publicly disclose ICE’s involvement in the shooting for nearly a year. He said Martinez’s family learned of the federal agent’s role through news reports.

    “When anyone in authority in any level of policing, federal, state, or local, decides to take the most drastic measure and that’s ending someone’s life, you need to be sure that you’re doing it as a last resort,” Lopez told CBS News in an interview Saturday. “I don’t feel that the information that I’ve read implies to me that it was a last resort and I want to get to the bottom of it.”

    In a statement to CBS News, Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, said her family has been looking for accountability.

    “Since Ruben’s death a year ago, all we have wanted is justice for him and we have struggled with the silence surrounding his killing,” Reyes said. “Now, the country is in crisis — and, terribly, heartbreakingly, other families are enduring what we have…It’s my hope that attention being raised now into Ruben’s death will help bring the justice we want for him and the answers we haven’t had.” 

    Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm, attorneys for Ruben’s family, said in a statement that “Ruben’s family has been pursuing transparency and accountability for nearly a year now and will continue to do so for as long as it takes. It is critical that there is a full and fair investigation into why HSI was present at the scene of a traffic collision and why a federal officer shot and killed a US citizen as he was trying to comply with instructions from the local law enforcement officers directing traffic.”

    Reyes told The Associated Press that her son had just turned 23 days before he and his best friend drove from San Antonio to South Padre Island for a weekend trip to celebrate. South Padre Island, located along the Gulf Coast near the U.S.-Mexican border, is a popular spring break destination that draws thousands of college-aged visitors.

    Reyes told the AP that her son worked at an Amazon warehouse, enjoyed playing video games and spending time with friends, and had never previously had any run-ins with law enforcement.

    “He was a typical young guy,” Reyes said. “He never really got a chance to go out and experience things. It was his first time getting to go out of town. He was a nice guy, humble guy. And he wasn’t a violent person at all.”

    Martinez’s death is one of several fatal shootings of U.S. citizens involving federal immigration agents over the past year. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, in January, Renee Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot in separate incidents while protesting a massive immigration operation in that city. Last week, the Trump administration announced it would end its large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota. 

    Immigration enforcement has become a salient political issue in recent months, particularly in border states like Texas, where federal and state authorities frequently coordinate operations. Texas will hold its primary elections on March 3, and immigration operations have become prominent issues on the campaign trail in key races.

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  • Ex-Minnesota corrections officer accused of falsely claiming to be U.S. citizen

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    A former Minnesota corrections officer is facing deportation and criminal charges that accuse him of more than a decade of citizenship deception.

    According to the Department of Homeland Security, 45-year-old Morris Brown was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis on Jan. 15. 

    DHS said the Liberian national last entered the U.S. in 2014 with a nonimmigrant student visa, which was terminated the following year because Brown failed to enroll in a full course of study.

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow claimed Brown “tried every trick in the book” to stay in the country after losing his legal status. 

    “We will use every tool at our disposal to ensure he faces justice for his many violations of the law,” Edlow said. 

    Federal officials said they found out during Operation Twin Shield last September that Brown was working as a Minnesota corrections officer. The operation targeted immigration fraud in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area.

    DHS said Brown now faces removal proceedings and possible criminal prosecution for immigration fraud, false claims to U.S. citizenship and other related offenses. 

    In a statement, the Minnesota Department of Corrections said it has cooperated with the investigation and followed federal document verification requirements while hiring Brown. He worked for them from May 2023 until last October.

    “If these federal allegations are accurate, this individual engaged in sophisticated efforts to misrepresent their identity, extending well beyond Minnesota,” DOC Commissioner Paul Schnell said. “We are grateful to USCIS and ICE for their work in investigating and addressing immigration fraud.”

    Brown is also accused of joining the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in 2014 and going AWOL the next year. DHS officials said he was taken into custody and discharged from the military “under other than honorable conditions in 2022.” Two years after the discharge, Brown applied to naturalize as a U.S. citizen based on prior military service in what DHS alleged was “another commission of fraud.”

    According to ICE records, Brown is now at an immigration facility in El Paso. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has an attorney. 

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    WCCO Staff

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  • Minnesota lawmakers discuss bills related to impacts of immigration surge in the state

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    The Minnesota Legislature quickly began discussing proposals in response to the federal immigration crackdown in the state on Wednesday when lawmakers began their work in earnest after pausing to honor the late Rep. Melissa Hortman on day one. 

    Addressing the impacts of Operation Metro Surge, which federal officials say is nearing its end, is a top priority for Democrats at the state capitol this year and they wasted no time bringing some of those bills before the first committee meetings of the session. 

    In the Minnesota House, DFL Rep. Sydney Jordan introduced a proposal that would limit federal immigration agents’ access to schools unless they have a judicial warrant and show identification.

    “Every child in Minnesota has a right to an education, but lately it has been impossible not to notice the profound impact of [U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement], [the Department of Homeland Security] and the federal government has had on Minnesota school children’s ability to learn,” Jordan told the Education Policy committee Wednesday. 

    The goal, she said, is to model what used to be ICE policy deeming schools as sensitive locations before that was repealed when President Donald Trump took office last January.

    Some school districts and the largest teachers’ union are suing to block immigration enforcement within 1,000 feet of schools except with a judicial warrant or emergency circumstances. 

    Rep. Peggy Bennett, a Republican representing Albert Lea and other southern Minnesota communities, said she and Rep. Ron Kresha, who co-chairs the Education Finance Committee, wrote a letter asking that the Trump administration reconsider its police reversal.

    “It should be a rare occurrence that schools are involved in these situations,” she said of immigration enforcement. 

    But she said she believes the Jordan proposal won’t solve the problem of fear of ICE agents in Minnesota communities keeping kids from school and worries that it could potentially put school staff in legal jeopardy. 

    She thinks that better cooperation between local and federal authorities would de-escalate situations. 

    “I understand the fear. It is real. But let’s pass bills that will actually solve the issue,” Bennett said. 

    School leaders, students and teachers testified before the panel Wednesday about this proposal and also shared their experiences to a separate Minnesota Senate committee. 

    They said impacts of the immigration enforcement operation will be felt long after the influx of agents leave the state.

    “For many that trauma will last a lifetime,” said MJ Johnson, executive director of Partnership Academy, a charter school in Richfield with a student body that is 92% Hispanic. 

    Students aren’t showing up to class, districts said, or have switched to remote learning. Schools fear what the surge will mean for funding, since dollars are tied to enrollment, and for student achievement because of the learning loss. Columbia Heights Public Schools estimates they could lose $2 million next school year on top of existing budget gaps. 

    Bill Adams, superintendent of Willmar Public Schools, said at its peak last month, there were 1,000 students absent out of 4,000 in the district on a single day

    “Even as attendance began to recover by late January we experienced a major operation shift— approximately 430 of our students transferred to our online learning platform,” Adams said. “When staff contacted families, parents explicitly cited fear as the primary driver across all demographics.”

    Meanwhile, nonprofits that provide legal advice for renters say calls for financial help spiked in January during the thick of the surge. Separately Wednesday, a Minnesota committee focused on housing discussed DFL-backed bills that would earmark $50 million dollars in emergency rental assistance and extend pre-eviction notice from two weeks to 30 days. 

    “We cannot GoFundMe our way out of this structural housing crisis,” said DFL Rep. Liish Kozlowski, noting the grassroots efforts to help people make rent. “Minnesotans are telling us loud and clear that it is time for the state to step up.”

    House Republicans have said they plan to revive an effort that would require cooperation between local governments and federal immigration authorities, including that county attorneys notify ICE if they have arrested an undocumented immigrant for a violent crime. 

    “The root of what we saw this past winter with with Operation Metro Surge — we can disagree about maybe some of the tactic that was used — I think at the core of the issue was that we did have local municipalities who were being overtly uncooperative with federal immigration authorities,” said GOP Rep. Max Rymer in a news conference on Monday. “I think my bill would have prevented, quite frankly, some of the chaos that we saw this past winter.”

    Any bill will need bipartisan support to pass the Legislature this year because of the tied Minnesota House. Republicans and Democrats co-chair committees in that chamber, so even advancing to a floor vote requires buy-in from both parties to advance.

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    Caroline Cummings

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  • Minneapolis City Council debates whether to renew liquor licenses for 2 hotels that allegedly housed ICE agents

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    The Minneapolis City Council debated the renewal of two liquor licenses on Tuesday, focusing on two hotels allegedly housing federal agents during Operation Metro Surge. 

    In January, protestors descended on both the Depot and the Canopy hotels, believing ICE agents were staying inside. Some protestors faced off with Minnesota State Troopers after an unlawful assembly was declared. 

    Hospitality union members spoke to the council about the license renewals, explaining that some employees from the hotels have expressed fear over ICE agents staying there. 

    “We believe that a liquor license is a privilege and that privilege should be reserved for businesses who keep the public safety in mind,” said Wade Luneberg, who is part of the union, Unite Here Local 17.

    Though another union member told the council there is “misinformation” that has caused anxiety. Joan Soholt said she’s worked as a hotel banquet server for 23 years.

    “Claims that these facilities are contracting with ICE or overpouring liquor to agents are false and deeply damaging,” Soholt said. 

    The licenses for these two locations were first singled out and held up at a council meeting in early February. On Tuesday, Chair Aurin Chowdhury pushed for further delay. 

    “Do we want to take a moment to do due process and investigate the situation that our constituents throughout the city have raised up as a grave concern or not?” Chowdhury questioned. 

    Though other council members, including a lawyer from the city attorney’s office, warned waiting too long could open the city up to legal risk. 

    “Not respecting staff input and opinion here could have tremendous legal and financial impact,” said Councilmember Elizabeth Shaffer. 

    Shaffer argued that delaying the renewal decision beyond Thursday could send a bigger message to business owners that Minneapolis “is not a safe place to do business.”

    Councilmembers Pearll Warren and LaTisha Vetaw also spoke out against the delay. 

    “This feels like exactly what the president did to Jimmy Kimmel; to me, I don’t like it,” said Vetaw.

    During the discussion, several members deferred to Quinn O’Reilly, managing attorney for the city, for legal clarity. 

    Councilmember Jamison Whiting asked O’Reilly whether housing ICE at these hotels was in itself a reason to deny a liquor license. 

    “No, as we advised previously, there needs to be connection between licensed activity and identifying concerns,” O’Reilly said. “So who stays at the hotel, there’s no nexus between the license activity, which is the serving of alcohol and the activity that which we are concerned.”

    Ultimately, the council voted 11-2 in favor of a day-long investigation, with city staff returning findings on Thursday.

    Ahead of the next meeting, staff will review complaints, 911 and 311 calls and reach out to business owners. As of Tuesday, city staff confirmed both hotels have active liquor licenses and are able to serve alcohol as the council debates the renewal. 

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    Ashley Grams

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  • Watch live: Minnesota DFL lawmakers to call on GOP to stand against federal immigration actions

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    Some Democratic Minnesota lawmakers will gather at the State Capitol on Presidents Day to urge their Republican colleagues to stand against what they call President Trump’s “abuse of power.”

    How to watch: 

    • What: Minnesota DFL lawmakers call on GOP to stand against President Trump’s “abuse of power”
    • Who: Sen. Erin Maye Quade, Rep. Leigh Finke and others
    • When: 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 16.
    • How to watch: In the video player above, and streamed in full on YouTube.

    According to organizers, DFL Party members will be joined by some Minnesotans who “have been harmed” by the actions of federal immigration officers during Operation Metro Surge, including some Republican constituents.

    This event comes one day after White House border czar Tom Homan announced on CBS News’ “Meet the Press” that around 1,000 immigration officers have left Minnesota since he announced the operation’s end last week. He also said several hundred more are expected to leave in the coming days.

    This story will be updated.

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    WCCO Staff

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  • Feds say Operation Metro Surge is ending. Many Twin Cities immigrants don’t believe it.

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    A woman from Mexico tells WCCO that she hasn’t left her St. Paul, Minnesota, apartment for the last month. She said it takes courage to even take out the trash. 

    “We immigrants only want to come to work, to help our families move forward, to support them. Like I said, we didn’t want to come to leave our families,” the woman said. 

    WCCO agreed not to share her name as she welcomed our crew inside on Sunday. She was receiving a grocery delivery from Bymore Supermercado, which has worked to get food and essential items to immigrants afraid to leave the house for more than two months. The woman said that she is undocumented, first arriving in Minnesota about two years ago in pursuit of a life that she said wasn’t possible to find back home. 

    “I think we come more out of necessity, and most of us follow all the rules,” she said. 

    White House border czar Tom Homan announced this past Thursday that Operation Metro Surge was coming to an end, adding that a smaller number of federal agents will stick around to help provide security in the field. He said that day-to-day operations will be transitioning back to the local field office, telling Face the Nation Sunday that about 1,000 agents have left Minnesota. The woman stuck in her apartment in St. Paul says she doesn’t believe any of this is over. 

    Ramiro Hernandez, the owner of Bymore Supermercado, said that he feels the same way. He felt relieved when he first heard the announcement, but he doesn’t know what it will take to fully believe that life can begin to return to normal for his neighbors. He said that the government has broken any existing trust that it had with people in the community. 

    “People that is afraid and they don’t want to go outside for different reasons, we go to them,” Hernandez said. 

    Hernandez said that he and his volunteers made more than 30 deliveries on Sunday alone, adding that some of the people staying home have the legal status to be in the United States. Still, he said that means little to people who have seen documented cases of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detaining American citizens during Operation Metro Surge.

    Jeff and Charlotte Dische are part of Hernandez’s team. The St. Paul couple said that they have completed about three delivery runs per week for the past month. They said that they didn’t feel comfortable engaging in certain kinds of observation work at their age, but realized that the delivery operation was something they could accomplish. 

    “It’s not the brave thing that those people are doing out on the streets, but it’s significant. It’s something we can do, and it’s better than sitting around at home and, oh, you know, grinding your teeth and feeling helpless,” Jeff Dische said. 

    For the woman whose world has become her apartment, she said that she missed the window to be able to apply for asylum. She dreams of one day becoming a teacher and finding a way to own a home. 

    “We are not criminals. Our only ‘crime’ is not being from the United States. But we are good people,” she said. 

    Homan said that immigration operations will continue even as additional agents leave the state. A CBS News review of an internal Department of Homeland Security document shows that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE have not been charged with or convicted of a violent crime. Less than 14% of immigrants arrested by ICE in 2025 had a violent criminal record and 40% had no criminal past at all. 

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    Conor Wight

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  • Hennepin County attorney to demand Alex Pretti killing evidence from feds

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    Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says she will be sending a letter this week to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to demand they turn over evidence in the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti by immigration officers in south Minneapolis.

    Moriarty has already sent a letter with the same demands for the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good, also in south Minneapolis, by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. Moriarty says the response deadline in that case is set for Tuesday.

    Moriarty has been investigating those two cases — as well as the shooting of a Venezuelan national in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14 — without federal assistance.

    In that non-fatal case, Homeland Security claims three undocumented men attacked a federal agent with a snow shovel and a broom, and that fearing for his life, the agent shot one of the men in the leg. 

    The case against the three men has now been dismissed, and the acting director of ICE said two agents have been placed on leave and are being investigated for lying under oath after video evidence surfaced disputing their claims.

    Moriarty says an evidence submission portal she created with the backing of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has been allowing the public to submit evidence including videos and eyewitness accounts.

    DHS has argued Minnesota doesn’t have jurisdiction over federal agents because under the Constitution’s supremacy clause. Moriarty says that doesn’t apply if agents broke the law.

    “I think evidence that is more compelling than having the gun or the shell casings is actually the autopsy reports on both [Good and Pretti],” Moriarty said. “Because for instance in [Renee Good’s case], that would tell us how many times she was shot, the angle, the direction of those shots and which shots were fatal.”

    Moriarty is not seeking another term, and a new county attorney will be elected in November. She says that timeline is not an issue. And in the past, complicated cases involving law enforcement have moved swiftly in Hennepin County. For example, Derek Chauvin’s conviction in the George Floyd case came 11 months after the murder.

    You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

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    Esme Murphy

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  • Family partially reunited after members were arrested by ICE agents in Minnesota

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    In an emotional reunion in Minnesota, a mother returned home to her 2-year-old after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests split up their family and left her toddler in the care of a family friend.

    Before Scarlett got to see her mom again, excitement filled the room.

    “Are you excited?” WCCO asked her in Spanish. 

    “Yes!” Scarlett responded.

    It was weeks and weeks of anticipation.

    “She’s asking every day, ‘Where’s my mommy? Where’s my mommy?’” Jissica, a family friend who had the Delegation of Parental Authority for Scarlett, said. “And I kept saying, ‘Your mom is coming soon.’”

    Jissica watched over Scarlett for nearly a month, which was all made possible by the DOPA form Scarlett’s parents signed as an extra precaution in case they were detained.

    “Thank you for watching my daughter,” Janeth, Scarlett’s mom, told Jissica in Spanish.

    “Every Monday they’d tell me I needed to wait,” Janeth told WCCO in Spanish.

    Janeth says the family came to the U.S. from Ecuador for their kids two years ago. She isn’t a citizen and is seeking asylum with a year to prove her situation.

    Janeth told WCCO she isn’t a criminal. 

    “I needed to leave my country to work for my kids. We are not criminals,” Janeth said in Spanish.

    The family was driving in mid-January when agents pulled them over.

    “I kissed my kids and I said let me give them a hug and kisses because I might not come back,” Janeth said in Spanish.

    That was the moment she’d feared. Janeth says she was detained, along with her husband and 4-year-old.

    “I said, ‘I have two kids,’ but they didn’t care,” she said in Spanish.

    Scarlett went to Jissica while the rest of the family was sent to a Texas immigration facility. 

    With the help of a lawyer, Janeth and her 4-year-old are back home, but her husband was deported.

    “I’m happy I’m with my daughter, but sad because my husband is gone,” Janeth said in Spanish. “Right now, it still doesn’t feel safe.”

    Despite that feeling, she told Scarlett in Spanish, “I’m not leaving again.”

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    Frankie McLister

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  • Don Lemon pleads not guilty on St. Paul federal church protest charges

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    Several people charged in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church whose pastor served as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official are set to be arraigned Friday afternoon in a Minneapolis federal courtroom.

    Journalist Don Lemon, who is being represented by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy against the right of religious freedom at a place of worship and injuring, intimidating and interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom at a place of worship.

    Local activists Chauntyll Allen, Nekima Levy Armstrong and others are also set to give their pleas in Friday’s hearing.

    Court documents say the group interrupted services at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, last month. The protesters targeted the church because one of its pastors, David Easterwood, also led the local ICE office.

    Legal experts told CBS News they expect the charges against the group to be dismissed. The indictment alleges the disruption violated the FACE Act, which prohibits people from intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion. But some former Civil Rights Division lawyers say the charge is constitutionally flawed and has never before been used to prosecute interference in a house of worship.

    Before the indictment, a federal magistrate judge in Minnesota refused to sign a complaint charging Lemon in the case.

    Levy Armstrong told WCCO her faith compelled her to protest Easterwood.

    “The reality is, as a Christian who is also an ordained reverend, in my tradition, it is important to speak up when you see injustice,” she said.

    Independent journalist Georgia Fort and one other person charged in the case are set to be arraigned on Tuesday.

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  • Minnesota officials react as feds announce ICE surge is ending

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    Liam Ramos’ family due back in court Friday

    The family of 5-year-old Liam Ramos, the Twin Cities boy now known across the globe after he was detained with his father by federal immigration officers last month, is due back in court Friday.

    Ramos’ lawyer told the New York Times last week the federal government is trying to speed up the deportation proceedings, but a judge has given the family’s legal team more time to argue their case.

    The government denies pushing things along.

     

    DOJ drops charges against men accused of assaulting ICE officers in Minneapolis, citing “inconsistent” evidence

    The Justice Department moved to drop federal charges against two men charged with assaulting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minneapolis last month, including one Venezuelan defendant who was shot in the leg by an officer, citing “newly discovered evidence” that was “materially inconsistent” with the allegations against them.

    The filing, entered Thursday by U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Daniel Rosen, moves to dismiss the charges against the men with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be reintroduced.

    In January, the two men, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, were charged in a federal criminal complaint with forcibly assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers in performance of their official duties. The charges came after Sosa-Celis was shot by an ICE officer, which drew nationwide attention amid the federal immigration surge in Minnesota.

    [Full story]

     

    Hennepin County attorney skeptical about end of surge

    Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty questioned whether the surge is truly ending in a statement issued Thursday.

    “We receive the news of the alleged end of Operation Metro Surge with some skepticism. Questions should be asked and answered about the exact nature of the cooperation with ICE supposedly promised by local and state officials, who were already providing all information and cooperation required by law.

    “Anyone who has witnessed this occupation in our community, or seen the footage online, knows that none of this has made us safer, as the federal government is claiming. Instead, it has caused irreparable damage to our community. Alex Pretti and Renee Good are no longer with their families. Children are traumatized and afraid to go to school. Small businesses are closing. And many of our immigrant neighbors, often with no criminal records, have been forcibly removed from our community.

    “We continue our efforts to investigate multiple actions by federal agents during this occupation. This office will be deliberate, and we will not waver. Our community will not forget and nor will we. This morning, Homan thanked law enforcement for arresting people he referred to as agitators. Let me be clear – we will not be used by the federal government to prosecute people who are exercising their 1st amendment rights. Every case submitted to us for a person arrested for exercising their 1st amendments rights has been dismissed.

    “If the federal government is really ending this occupation, the reason is that Minnesotans resisted in countless nonviolent ways. This community continues to show inspirational energy and strength in caring for neighbors. Our immigrant community has demonstrated incredible courage.

    “To the people of Hennepin County: You are owed a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid for showing the federal government and the nation just how much you care for your neighbors and our democracy.”

     

    AG Keith Ellison: “The surge is ending too late”

    Attorney General Keith Ellison said the end of the federal surge, if it comes to pass, “is a victory,” but it does nothing to erase the damage already done.

    “The end of Operation Metro Surge, when it materializes, will be welcome news. Tragically, the surge is ending too late for Renee Good and Alex Pretti and all who loved them. It is ending too late for Liam Conejo Ramos and the other children who will have to live with the trauma of their detention. It is ending too late for everyone who was wrongfully and illegally detained. It is ending too late for Minnesotans who have endured racial profiling, for businesses that have closed, for children that couldn’t go to school, for the people who have fallen behind on their rent because they couldn’t safely go to work. This unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional exercise of force leaves much pain in its wake. 

    “Despite the pain, make no mistake: this is a victory. This is a victory for the rule of law, for the power of clear-headed, creative, lawful resistance, and for the strength of unity over division.  

    “The people of Minnesota ended the surge. Your voices, your dedication to peaceful protest, your documenting federal agents’ abuses of power, and your commitment to protecting and providing for each other made this happen. In the face of Donald Trump’s campaign of revenge and retribution against us, you stood strong, stood for the rule of law, and stood for what we believe in Minnesota: that we are stronger when we stand together, that we all do better when we all do better, and that everyone deserves to live with dignity, safety, and respect — no exceptions.  

    “Now, our attention turns to healing and to ensuring that what happened here over the past several weeks can never happen again — not to us, and not to any state, city, or neighborhood in this country.”

     

    Attorney for Renee Good’s family redoubles call for justice, accountability

    The attorney representing the family of Renee Good, the woman shot and killed by an ICE agent in south Minneapolis last month, says the planned drawdown does not absolve federal agents’ previous conduct.

    “We are cautiously optimistic about the drawdown of federal agents from Minnesota, and we are hopeful that it brings much needed relief to members of the community there,” Antonio Romanucci said. “The nation will be watching to see if and where these agents are redeployed. The agents’ departure from Minnesota does not dismiss the absolute need for accountability for their actions during Operation Metro Surge, and we are committed to seeking justice for our clients. Further, we remain deeply concerned about the continued presence of ICE in communities around the country and we urge for Constitutional conduct by federal agents across the board.”

     

    Rep. Betty McCollum: Trump administration inflicted “a reign of terror”

    Rep. Betty McCollum issued a statement Thursday morning: 

    “For months, the Trump administration has inflicted a reign of terror and chaos through Operation Metro Surge. The fact that the administration says that it ‘yielded the results they came for’ is a flashing red light warning to our entire nation. What are their results?” said McCollum. 

    She said that it’s “up to Congress and the courts to fix the mess that Trump has created,” and said no other community in the country should experience “the carnage and lasting damage” that Minnesota has faced over the last few weeks.

     

    Rep. Ilhan Omar: “That was an authoritarian abuse of power”

    Rep. Ilhan Omar reacted to border czar Tom Homan’s announcement that Operation Metro Surge is ending, with agents expected to leave the state next week.

    “Operation ‘Metro Surge’ has exposed just how far ICE is willing to go to intimidate and terrorize Black, Brown, and immigrant communities in our state. Nearly all Somalis in Minnesota are citizens, yet ICE agents harassed residents demanding proof of papers and, when citizens sought to document these unlawful stops, they were met with lethal force,” said Omar. “Latino, Asian, and other communities of color were forced into hiding regardless of their status, and those who dared to live their lives, were often arrested with no cause. That was not public safety. That was an authoritarian abuse of power.”

    Omar called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement “so that no community in America is ever terrorized like this again.”

     

    United Nations warns Good, Pretti killings could amount to “extrajudicial killings”

    United Nations experts warn that the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis could amount to extrajudicial killing.

    The U.N. argued that any loss of life in law enforcement operations must be treated as potentially unlawful and requires a prompt and effective investigation.

    The experts called on U.S. authorities to ensure accountability for any unlawful killings and human rights violations, and to provide effective remedies for victims and their families. They warned that without immediate de-escalation, respect for the right to life, and clear accountability, tensions could escalate into broader violence. 

    “We are deeply concerned about statements made by some senior officials characterising victims as “domestic terrorists” and publicly asserting that the use of lethal force was necessary,” the U.N. release said. “Such statements, made prior to the completion of an independent and impartial investigation, risk prejudging key factual and legal questions, undermining public confidence, and influencing investigative outcomes. Authorities must refrain from statements that could compromise the independence and impartiality of the investigation.”

     

    St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her signs ordinance requiring feds to wear ID

    St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her on Thursday signed a City Council ordinance requiring federal law enforcement to wear identification on their uniforms while in the city.

    The ID must include the name of their agency and their name or badge number.

    Her also responded to Homan’s announcement.

    “Any announcement of a drawdown or end to Operation Metro Surge must be followed by real action. Last week, we were told ICE would be reducing its presence in Minnesota. Yet yesterday, we witnessed a reckless high-speed chase in a densely populated, heavily visited part of our city—one that, thankfully, did not end in something far worse.

    “Regardless of any announced drawdown, we will continue moving forward with our work: setting clear expectations and demanding better for our residents. That’s why today I signed a new ordinance for greater transparency from federal law enforcement.

    “Federal law enforcement officers have too often used generic ‘police’ uniforms to obscure their identities and avoid being clearly identified by the agencies they represent. This practice has created confusion, eroded trust, and strained relationships between our community and local law enforcement.

    “With this new ordinance, we are establishing clear rules of engagement and insisting on greater transparency from federal authorities. Our residents deserve to know who is operating in their city simply by looking at them. Transparency is essential to accountability—and accountability is essential to protecting the rights and safety of our community.”

     

    Sen. Amy Klobuchar: ICE withdrawal “just the beginning”

    Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor of Minnesota, reacted to Homan’s announcement:

    “Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked. Our state has shown the world how to protect our democracy and take care of our neighbors. ICE withdrawing from Minnesota is just the beginning. We need accountability for the lives lost and the extraordinary abuses of power at the hands of ICE agents, and we must see a complete overhaul of the agency.”

     

    Walz “cautiously optimistic” about drawdown

    In a news conference about the state’s economic recovery from Operation Metro Surge, Walz said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the announcement of its conclusion.

    Walz said Operation Metro Surge — which at its peak saw 3,000 federal agents across Minnesota and has led to over 4,000 arrests — was “an unprecedented federal invasion in all aspects of life” and “unlike anything we’ve witnessed.” 

    “And through that entire time, the dignity, the compassion, the love, the care and the absolute determination to do what is right never wavered amongst Minnesotans,” Walz said. “I think it’s probably safe to say the rest of the country will be forever grateful because we showed what it means to stand up for what’s right.”

    [Read more]

     

    Rep. Tom Emmer: “Job well done, Tom Homan.”

    Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer credited Homan and Mr. Trump for the announced end to the surge.

    “Job well done, Tom Homan. Local law enforcement is now cooperating with federal law enforcement in Tim Walz’s Minnesota, thanks to President Trump’s leadership. We are hopeful that this partnership will continue—without local or state interference—to ensure the worst of the worst are being removed from our communities.”   

     

    Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan: “I won’t believe it until they’re actually gone.”

    Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running for Senate, also issued a statement Thursday morning.

    “I’m relieved that this violent paramilitary force will be removed from our streets, but I won’t believe it until they’re actually gone. Minnesotans stood together against this chaos and cruelty. We never gave up on our neighbors. 

    “But I will never — EVER — forget nor forgive the fear, violence, and chaos the federal government has laid on our doorstep. ICE has killed two Minnesotans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. and harmed so many more. Our children, like little Liam and Chloe have been targeted and traumatized. I will never forget the terrified looks on their faces. Our schools, our small businesses, and our churches have been targeted, closed, and harmed forever. 

    “This is the first step in many to truly get justice for Minnesota. We must rip apart this agency that operates outside the law. The government must restore and repair what’s been broken. Minnesotans deserve justice and accountability, and I won’t stop until we get it.”

     

    Full statements from Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey

    Walz’s initial response to Homan’s announcement:

    “The long road to recovery starts now.

    “The impact on our economy, our schools, and people’s lives won’t be reversed overnight. That work starts today.”

    Frey’s statement:

    “They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation. These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American.

    “This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a great comeback. We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward together.”

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  • Border czar says Minnesota ICE surge is ending: “I don’t want to see any more bloodshed”

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    Border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota is concluding, with a drawdown of federal immigration officers set to occur over the course of next week.

    “I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said in a news conference held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis.

    Homan says the decision was made after looking at two major factors: the multitude of “public safety threat” arrests the operation has yielded, and a steep drop in the need for federal officers to call in quick response force teams due to “agitators.”

    “That is a good thing. That is a win for everybody, not just for the safety of law enforcement officers,” Homan said. “It’s a win for this community.”

    He said a “significant drawdown” is already underway in the state, adding, “I don’t want to see any more bloodshed.”

    White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Feb. 12, 2026 in Minneapolis.

    Scott McFetridge/AP


    “We have a lot of work to do across this country to remove public safety risk, who shouldn’t even be in this country. And to deliver on President Trump’s promise for strong border security and mass deportation, law enforcement officers drawn down from this surge operation will either return to the duty station or be assigned elsewhere to achieve just that.”

    Gov. Tim Walz, who is spoke on budget proposals for businesses impacted by the surge later Thursday morning, said, “The long road to recovery starts now. The impact on our economy, our schools, and people’s lives won’t be reversed overnight. That work starts today.” 

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also issued a statement in the aftermath of Homan’s announcement. 

    “They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation. These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American,” he said. “This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a great comeback. We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward together.” 

    The announcement comes the same morning as a number of top Minnesota officials are testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing on immigration enforcement, including Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell and U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

    In his opening statement at that hearing, Ellison said Operation Metro Surge has caused “real harm” to Minnesota.

    “This war on Minnesota is retribution to be sure — our policies, our values and how we vote,” Ellison said. “And it comes at a great cost.

    Emmer countered, calling the clashes seen in Minnesota as “a direct result of radical sanctuary state and city policies in Minnesota,” adding that he believes those policies “turned Minnesota into a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens.”

    Homan arrived in Minnesota in late January, less than a week after federal officials announced Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and some of his agents would be leaving the area.

    On Feb. 4, Homan said federal authorities were going to immediately “draw down” 700 law enforcement personnel in Minnesota and that around 2,000 agents would remain in the state. The number was around 150 before the surge. 

    “My goal, with the support of President Trump, is to achieve a complete drawdown and end this surge as soon as we can, but that is largely contingent upon the end of illegal and threatening activities against ICE and its federal partners that we’re seeing in the community,” Homan said earlier this month.

    Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday said he expected Operation Metro Surge to last “days, not weeks and months.”

    White House officials said earlier this month that there have been at least 4,000 arrests in Minnesota connected with the federal operation.

    Beret Leone

    contributed to this report.

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  • Border czar says Minnesota ICE surge is ending: “I don’t want to see any more bloodshed”

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    Border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday that Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota is concluding, with a drawdown of federal immigration officers set to occur over the course of next week.

    “I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said in a news conference held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis.

    Homan says the decision was made after looking at two major factors: the multitude of “public safety threat” arrests the operation has yielded, and a steep drop in the need for federal officers to call in quick response force teams due to “agitators.”

    “That is a good thing. That is a win for everybody, not just for the safety of law enforcement officers,” Homan said. “It’s a win for this community.”

    He said a “significant drawdown” is already underway in the state, adding, “I don’t want to see any more bloodshed.”

    White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Feb. 12, 2026 in Minneapolis.

    Scott McFetridge/AP


    “We have a lot of work to do across this country to remove public safety risk, who shouldn’t even be in this country. And to deliver on President Trump’s promise for strong border security and mass deportation, law enforcement officers drawn down from this surge operation will either return to the duty station or be assigned elsewhere to achieve just that.”

    Gov. Tim Walz, who is spoke on budget proposals for businesses impacted by the surge later Thursday morning, said, “The long road to recovery starts now. The impact on our economy, our schools, and people’s lives won’t be reversed overnight. That work starts today.” 

    Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also issued a statement in the aftermath of Homan’s announcement. 

    “They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation. These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American,” he said. “This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a great comeback. We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward together.” 

    The announcement comes the same morning as a number of top Minnesota officials are testifying at a U.S. Senate hearing on immigration enforcement, including Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell and U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

    In his opening statement at that hearing, Ellison said Operation Metro Surge has caused “real harm” to Minnesota.

    “This war on Minnesota is retribution to be sure — our policies, our values and how we vote,” Ellison said. “And it comes at a great cost.

    Emmer countered, calling the clashes seen in Minnesota as “a direct result of radical sanctuary state and city policies in Minnesota,” adding that he believes those policies “turned Minnesota into a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens.”

    Homan arrived in Minnesota in late January, less than a week after federal officials announced Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and some of his agents would be leaving the area.

    On Feb. 4, Homan said federal authorities were going to immediately “draw down” 700 law enforcement personnel in Minnesota and that around 2,000 agents would remain in the state. The number was around 150 before the surge. 

    “My goal, with the support of President Trump, is to achieve a complete drawdown and end this surge as soon as we can, but that is largely contingent upon the end of illegal and threatening activities against ICE and its federal partners that we’re seeing in the community,” Homan said earlier this month.

    Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday said he expected Operation Metro Surge to last “days, not weeks and months.”

    White House officials said earlier this month that there have been at least 4,000 arrests in Minnesota connected with the federal operation.

    Beret Leone

    contributed to this report.

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    Nick Lentz

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  • Voluntary departures hit record high as detained immigrants lose hope of getting released or winning in court

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    As pathways to freedom have narrowed in immigration courts across the United States, a record number of detainees are giving up their cases and voluntarily leaving the country.

    Last year, 28% of completed immigration removal cases among those in detention ended in voluntary departure, a higher share than in any year prior, a CBS News analysis of decades of court records found.

    That figure only appears to be climbing as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown widens and detention populations swell. The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. The analysis does not include those who were not given a hearing before an immigration judge, such as immigrants in expedited removal proceedings. 

    “It’s set up for every individual who is detained to get to the point where they’re just emotionally drained and exhausted through it all of the way that we’re being treated, to just say, ‘OK, all I want is my freedom,’” said Vilma Palacios, who agreed to return to Honduras in late December after being detained for six months in Basile, Louisiana. 

    Palacios, 22, had been in the U.S. since she was 6 years old. Last June, a month after she graduated from nursing school at Louisiana State University, ICE agents arrested her at a local police station after she brought in a car for a routine inspection. She has no criminal record. 

    Palacios said she and her family were apprehended and detained for a month at the border when they arrived in 2010 but were released and pursued an asylum case in the years following. Court records show her case was administratively closed in 2015, when she was 12 years old, meaning it was taken off the docket indefinitely. 

    In a statement to CBS News, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson wrote that Palacios “freely admitted to being in the U.S. illegally” and “never sought or gained any legal status.” 

    Palacios pushed back on claims that she never sought legal status, saying she had been awaiting a work permit renewal when she was arrested. 

    Since then, Palacios says she had an immigration attorney helping her navigate the immigration court proceeding process and thought she was doing everything necessary to remain in the U.S. lawfully. She says she was shocked when immigration agents detained her. 

    She said her subsequent six-month stay in detention — during which she had no contact with family or friends — was emotionally exhausting. 

    “Everything was taken from me, like being ripped apart from every person that I loved, and being surrounded with people that I had never met in my life, and [ICE] having control over every movement that I made, was just something very difficult to me,” she said. “It got to the point where I didn’t see that I had no other option but just to say, OK, just please give me my freedom back.”

    Palacios said she tried to offer medical care to fellow detainees in need when they faced delays in accessing doctors and nurses, but detention facility staff told her not to.

    “Many women would always come up to me, or come up to the officers, and complain about the waiting time, that they weren’t receiving the treatment that they needed, that they were sick, and still had to wait two, three, four weeks, even months after, to be called,” Palacios said. 

    About 73,000 people were being held in ICE detention in mid-January, the highest level ever recorded by DHS, CBS News previously reported. 

    “The conditions in the detention centers have never ever been worse because they’re so overcrowded,” said Jen Grant, a supervising attorney at the Legal Aid Society in New York. 

    Palacios asked an immigration judge for a bond for her release from detention, but her request was denied. 

    “They weren’t looking at the roots that I created in the United States,” Palacios said. “The job that I had lined up, the career, the life that I had built for myself, they never took nothing into consideration.”

    She’s not the only one who struggled to get out of detention while her case was pending. Last year, 30% of rulings on bond were favorable to detainees, down from 59% in 2024, the CBS News analysis found. 

    Under the Trump administration, DHS has moved to subject anyone who entered the U.S. illegally to mandatory detention, rather than only those apprehended near the border, removing judges’ authority to grant bond. In December, a California district judge ruled that DHS’s sweeping use of mandatory detention is unlawful, but the chief immigration judge issued guidance telling immigration judges the ruling was not binding, according to a memo obtained by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

    Judges may also be afraid to rule out of step with the administration’s deportation agenda, Grant said, as the Trump administration has fired dozens of judges. 

    A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the nation’s immigration courts, wrote in a statement that “immigration judges are independent adjudicators and decide all matters before them, including requests for voluntary departure, on a case-by-case basis, according to U.S. immigration law, regulations, and precedent decisions.” 

    DHS did not respond to inquiries about the increase in voluntary departures and use of mandatory detention. 

    Many detainees are seeking release by filing habeas corpus petitions in federal court, which compel a judge to evaluate the legality of their detention. In some cases, that shifts the burden of proof onto the government to show that a detainee is a flight risk. But not everyone has the resources to file a habeas corpus petition, Grant said, and not all petitions are successful. 

    One immigrant who asked that CBS News identify her only by her initials, U.G., as she is still seeking legal pathways to appeal her deportation, was relieved when a judge finally ordered for her deportation after 13 months in detention. Although she didn’t ask for voluntary departure, at one point she tried to convince her legal team to ask for her removal.

    “I couldn’t fathom just continuing to sit there,” she said. “Every day that I sit here, I’m choosing to sit here. I can sign and have them remove me in three days.”

    Even if she had been granted her claim for relief, she believed DHS would appeal it, leaving her in detention for even longer, or try to send her to a country other than her native Mexico, she said. 

    “They believe that the likelihood of them winning their case is so much lower than it ever used to be,” attorney Christopher Kinnison said of some of his clients. He has been working as an immigration lawyer in Louisiana for 15 years.

    Many of the people in removal proceedings are seeking asylum, and asylum grant rates have plummeted, according to immigration court data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. More than half of asylum requests were granted each month from 2022 to 2024, but 29% were granted by December 2025.

    In recent months, DHS has also moved to cut thousands of asylum cases short by asking judges to send asylum seekers to third countries. 

    Successful asylum and bond requests declined in 2025 (Line chart)

    “People have no hope,” Grant said. “It’s from seeing other people in court who fight their cases, who get their cases denied, who have bond hearings … and then they get denied.”

    After a judge granted Palacios’ request for voluntary departure, she was flown to Honduras in handcuffs, with additional metal chains around her waist and feet. 

    “It’s something that I feel like it’s very inhumane, the way that we are shackled and brought to our country,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like it’s a voluntary departure. It seemed that you’re still being held as a criminal, kind of like a hostage.”

    Now in a country that she can hardly remember, Palacios is beginning to rebuild her life, even volunteering at a local toy drive in her new community.  

    Pacios did not appeal her case after being sent back to Honduras, but she tells CBS News she hasn’t given up hope of returning to the U.S. one day.

    “My goal and dream is still to be a nurse in the United States,” Palacios said. “If I receive an opportunity here, to be able to gain experience, in the meantime, to be able to continue making an impact… to be able to help those in need, I always say, why not?”

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  • Woman confronts anti-ICE protesters in Richfield, video shows; officer lets demonstration proceed

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    On Tuesday, a community member said there was a heated confrontation on a pedestrian bridge in Richfield, Minnesota. A woman confronted people voicing opinions against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and eventually called the cops.

    “This is not legal to do, I’m calling the cops,” the woman told a group of three women protesting and the man who was with them, recording the confrontation.

    The incident occurred just before 4 p.m. over Highway 62.

    “I don’t want this stuff on the bridge. That is the most offensive thing I’ve ever seen,” the woman said to the group.

    “There was three of the sweetest women up there with signs,” said Darnell Edwards, who captured video of the incident. “Someone had an opinion that came and gave their ideas.”

    Edwards was recording when the woman who had the opposing opinion called police.

    “I don’t care about you right now,” she said. 

    Edwards responded to the woman, saying, “I’m just listening!”

    “I really don’t care about you right now,” the woman said.

    Edwards has since posted the video on Instagram. The clip also shows when officers arrived. 
     
    “You guys are more than good to do this. You guys are fine. You just cannot affix it to the bridge,” the Richfield Police Department officer said when she showed up.

    “I think that’s what this country is all about,” Edwards told WCCO.

    Richfield police said the call was regarding a concern of signs and a flag affixed to the bridge structure. After a cordial conversation, no enforcement action was taken.

    “You guys are totally fine and totally within your rights,” the officer said to the group. “If you guys want to stand here and hold it, you totally can.”

    The officer then told the group, “Have a good day,” and the group thanked her.

    If Edwards could go back to Tuesday, he says he’d wish the following.

    “Have a back-and-forth conversation. I think that would’ve been great. I would’ve loved to see a hug at the end, to be honest,” he said.

    “I’ve got a mother that has to look out here. You’re honking the horns. It’s terrible. Not respectful to other people,” the woman told protesters.

    After investigating, WCCO wasn’t able to find the name of or reach the woman who confronted protesters.

    “I do feel for her being that upset,” Edwards said.

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  • Hard hats and dummy plates: Reports of ICE ruses add to fears in Minnesota

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    For days, Luis Ramirez had an uneasy feeling about the men dressed as utility workers he’d seen outside his family’s Mexican restaurant in suburban Minneapolis.

    They wore high-visibility vests and spotless white hard hats, he noticed, even while parked in their vehicle. His search for the Wisconsin-based electrician advertised on the car’s doors returned no results.

    On Tuesday, when their Nissan returned to the lot outside his restaurant, Ramirez, 31, filmed his confrontation with the two men, who hid their faces as he approached and appeared to be wearing heavy tactical gear beneath their yellow vests.

    “This is what our taxpayer money goes to: renting these vehicles with fake tags to come sit here and watch my business,” Ramirez shouts in the video.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about whether the men were federal immigration officers. But encounters like Ramirez’s have become increasingly common.

    As the sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota continues, legal observers and officials say they have received a growing number of reports of federal agents impersonating construction workers, delivery drivers and in some cases anti-ICE activists.

    Not all of those incidents have been verified, but they have heightened fears in a state already on edge, adding to legal groups’ concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.

    “If you have people afraid that the electrical worker outside their house might be ICE, you’re inviting public distrust and confusion on a much more dangerous level,” said Naureen Shah, the director of immigration advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is what you do if you’re trying to control a populace, not trying to do routine, professional law enforcement.”

    In the past, immigration authorities have sometimes used disguises and other deceptions, which they call ruses, to gain entry into homes without a warrant.

    The tactics became more common during President Donald Trump’s first term, attorneys said, prompting an ACLU lawsuit accusing immigration agents of violating the U.S. Constitution by posing as local law enforcement during home raids. A recent settlement restricted the practice in Los Angeles. But ICE deceptions remain legal elsewhere in the country.

    Still, the undercover operations reported in Minnesota would appear to be a “more extreme degree than we’ve seen in the past,” said Shah, in part because they seem to be happening in plain sight.

    Where past ruses were aimed at deceiving immigration targets, the current tactics may also be a response to Minnesota’s sprawling networks of citizen observers that have sought to call attention to federal agents before they make arrests.

    At the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the city’s central hub of ICE activity, activists told the Associated Press they had seen agents leaving in vehicles with stuffed animals on their dashboards or Mexican flag decals on their bumpers. Pickups with lumber or tools in their beds were also frequently spotted.

    In recent weeks, federal agents have repeatedly shown up to construction sites dressed as workers, according to Jose Alvillar, a lead organizer for the local immigrant rights group, Unidos MN.

    “We’ve seen an increase in the cowboy tactics,” he said, though he noted the raids had not resulted in arrests. “Construction workers are good at identifying who is a real construction worker and who is dressing up as one.”

    Since the start of the operation in Minnesota, local officials, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, have said ICE agents had been seen swapping license plates or using bogus ones, a violation of state law.

    Candice Metrailer, an antiques dealer in south Minneapolis, believes she witnessed such an attempt firsthand.

    On Jan. 13, she received a call from a man who identified himself as a collector, asking if her store sold license plates. She said it did. A few minutes later, two men in street clothes entered the shop and began looking through her collection of vintage plates.

    “One of them says, ‘Hey, do you have any recent ones?’” Metrailer recalled. “Immediately, an alarm bell went off in my head.”

    Metrailer stepped outside while the men continued browsing. A few doors down from the shop, she saw an idling Ford Explorer with blacked-out windows. She memorized its license plate, then quickly plugged it into a crowdsourced database used by local activists to track vehicles linked to immigration enforcement.

    The database shows an identical Ford with the same plates had been photographed leaving the Whipple building seven times and reported at the scene of an immigration arrest weeks earlier.

    When one of the men approached the register holding a white Minnesota plate, Metrailer said she told him that the store had a new policy against selling the items.

    Metrailer said she had reported the incident to Minnesota’s attorney general. A spokesperson for DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

    Supporters of the immigration crackdown say the volunteer army of ICE-tracking activists in Minneapolis has forced federal agents to adopt new methods of avoiding detection.

    “Of course agents are adapting their tactics so that they’re a step ahead,” said Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director of ICE enforcement and operations in New York City. “We’ve never seen this level of obstruction and interference.”

    In nearly three decades in immigration enforcement, Mechkowski said he also hadn’t seen ICE agents disguising themselves as uniformed workers in the course of making arrests.

    Earlier this summer, a spokesperson for DHS confirmed a man wearing a high-visibility construction vest was an ICE agent conducting surveillance. In Oregon, a natural gas company published guidance last month on how customers could identify their employees after reports of federal impersonators.

    In the days since his encounter, Ramirez, the restaurant worker, said he has been on high alert for undercover agents. He recently stopped a locksmith whom he feared might be a federal agent, before quickly realizing he was a local resident.

    “Everybody is on edge about these guys, man,” Ramirez said. “It feels like they’re everywhere.”

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  • Immigrant whose skull was broken in eight places during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked

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    Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall treasured moments like the night he taught her to dance.

    But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while being detained is seared into his battered brain.

    He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend’s car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again.

    He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages.

    “They started beating me right away when they arrested me,” the Mexican immigrant recounted this week to The Associated Press, which recently reported on how his case contributed to mounting friction between federal immigration agents and a Minneapolis hospital.

    Castañeda Mondragón, 31, is one of an unknown number of immigration detainees who, despite avoiding deportation during the Trump administration’s enforcement crackdown, have been left with lasting injuries following violent encounters with ICE officers. His case is one of the excessive-force claims the federal government has thus far declined to investigate.

    He was hurt so badly he was disoriented for days at Hennepin County Medical Center, where ICE officers constantly watched over him.

    The officers told nurses Castañeda Mondragón “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall,” an account his caregivers immediately doubted. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull — injuries a doctor told AP were inconsistent with a fall.

    “There was never a wall,” Castañeda Mondragón said in Spanish, recalling ICE officers striking him with the same metal rod used to break the windows of the vehicle he was in. He later identified it as an ASP, a telescoping baton routinely carried by law enforcement.

    Training materials and police use-of-force policies across the U.S. say such a baton can be used to hit the arms, legs and body. But striking the head, neck or spine is considered potentially deadly force.

    “The only time a person can be struck in the head with any baton is when the person presents the same threat that would permit the use of a firearm — a lethal threat to the officer or others,” said Joe Key, a former Baltimore police lieutenant and use-of-force expert who testifies in defense of police.

    Once he was taken to an ICE holding facility at Ft. Snelling in suburban Minneapolis, Castañeda Mondragón said officers resumed beating him. Recognizing that he was seriously hurt, he said, he pleaded with them to stop but they just “laughed at me and hit me again.”

    “They were very racist people,” he said. “No one insulted them, neither me nor the other person they detained me with. It was their character, their racism toward us, for being immigrants.”

    The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the last two weeks on Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries.

    It is unclear whether his arrest was captured on body-camera footage or if there might be additional recordings from security cameras at the detention center.

    In a recent bid to boost transparency, DHS announced a broad rollout of body cameras for immigration officers in Minneapolis as the government also draws down ICE’s presence there.

    ICE deportation officer William J. Robinson did not say how Castañeda Mondragón’s skull was smashed in a Jan. 20 declaration filed in federal court. During the intake process, it was determined he “had a head injury that required emergency medical treatment,” he wrote in the filing.

    The declaration also stated that Castañeda Mondragón entered the U.S. legally in March 2022, and that the agency determined only after his arrest that he had overstayed his visa. A federal judge later ruled his arrest had been unlawful and ordered him released from ICE custody.

    A video posted to social media captured the moments immediately after Castañeda Mondragón’s arrest as four masked men walk him handcuffed through a parking lot. The video shows him unsteady and stumbling, held up by ICE officers.

    “Don’t resist,” shouts the woman who is recording. “Cause they ain’t gonna do nothing but bang you up some more.”

    “Hope they don’t kill you,” she adds.

    “And y’all gave the man a concussion,” a male bystander shouts.

    The witness who posted the video declined to speak with AP or provide consent for the video’s publication, but Castañeda Mondragón confirmed he is the handcuffed man seen in the recording.

    At least one ICE officer later told staff at the medical center that Castañeda Mondragón “got his (expletive) rocked,” according to court documents filed by a lawyer seeking his release and nurses who spoke with AP.

    AP interviewed a doctor and five nurses about Castañeda Mondragón’s treatment at HCMC and the presence of ICE officers inside the hospital. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss patient care and feared retaliation. AP also consulted an outside physician, who affirmed the injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall or running into a wall.

    Minnesota state law requires health professionals to report to law enforcement any wounds that could have been perpetrated as part of a crime.

    An HCMC spokeswoman declined to say this week whether anyone at the facility had done so. However, following the Jan. 31 publication of AP’s initial story about Castañeda Mondragón’s arrest, hospital administrators opened an internal inquiry seeking to determine which staff members have spoken to the media, according to internal communications viewed by AP.

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz posted a link to AP’s prior story about Castañeda Mondragón, but his office has not said whether state authorities would pursue answers.

    “Law enforcement cannot be lawless,” Walz wrote in the post on X. “Thousands of aggressive, untrained agents of the federal government continue to injure and terrorize Minnesotans. This must end.”

    Castañeda Mondragón’s arrest came a day after  the first  of  two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by immigration officers, triggering widespread public protests.

    Minnesota congressional leaders and other elected officials, including St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, called this week for an investigation of Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries.

    The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, which oversees St. Paul, urged Castañeda Mondragón to file a police report to prompt an investigation. He said he plans to file a complaint. A St. Paul police spokesperson said the department would investigate “all alleged crimes that are reported to us.”

    While the Trump administration insists ICE limits its operations to immigrants with violent rap sheets, Castañeda Mondragón has no criminal record.

    “We are seeing a repeated pattern of Trump Administration officials attempting to lie and gaslight the American people when it comes to the cruelty of this ICE operation in Minnesota,” Sen. Tina Smith, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a statement.

    Rep. Kelly Morrison, another Democrat and a doctor, recently toured the Whipple Building, the ICE facility at Ft. Snelling. She said she saw severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and an almost complete lack of medical care.

    “If any one of our police officers did this, you know what just happened in Minnesota with George Floyd, we hold them accountable,” said Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, whose district includes St. Paul.

    A native of Veracruz, Mexico, Castañeda Mondragón came to Minnesota nearly four years ago on a temporary work visa and found jobs as a driver and roofer. He uses his earnings to support his elderly father, who is disabled and diabetic, and his 10-year-old daughter.

    On the day of his arrest, he was running errands with a friend when they suddenly found themselves surrounded by ICE agents. They began breaking the windows and opening the doors of the vehicle. He said the first person who hit him “got ugly with me for being Mexican” and not having documents showing his immigration status.

    About four hours after his arrest, court records show, Castañeda Mondragón was taken to an emergency room in the suburb of Edina with swelling and bruising around his right eye and bleeding. He was then transferred to the Minneapolis medical center, where he told staff he had been “dragged and mistreated by federal agents,” before his condition deteriorated, court records show.

    A week into his hospitalization, caregivers described him as minimally responsive. As his condition slowly improved, hospital staff handed him his cellphone, and he spoke with his child in Mexico, whom he could not remember.

    “I am your daughter,” she told him. “You left when I was 6 years old.”

    His head injuries erased past experiences that for his daughter are unforgettable, including birthday parties and the day he left for the U.S. She’s been trying to revive his memory in daily calls.

    “When I turned 5, you taught me how to dance for the first time,” she reminded him recently.

    “All these moments, really, for me, have been forgotten,” he said.

    He showed gradual improvement and, to the surprise of some who treated him, was released from the hospital on Jan. 27.

    He faces a long recovery and an uncertain future. Questions loom about whether he will be able to continue to support his family back in Mexico. “My family depends on me,” he said.

    Though his bruises have faded, the effects of his traumatic brain injuries linger. In addition to the problems with his memory, he also has issues with balance and coordination that could prove debilitating for a man whose work requires going up and down ladders. He said he is unable to bathe himself without help.

    “I can’t get on a roof now,” he said.

    Castañeda Mondragón, who does not have health insurance, said doctors have told him he needs ongoing care. Unable to earn a living, he is relying on support from co-workers and members of the Minneapolis-St. Paul community who are raising money to help provide food, housing and medical care. He has launched a GoFundMe.

    Still, he hopes to stay in the U.S. and to provide again someday for his loved ones. He differentiates between people in Minnesota, where he said he has felt welcome, and the federal officers who beat him.

    “It’s immense luck to have survived, to be able to be in this country again, to be able to heal, and to try to move forward,” he said. “For me, it’s the best luck in the world.”

    But when he closes his eyes at night, the fear that ICE officers will come for him dominates his dreams. He is now terrified to leave his apartment, he said.

    “You’re left with the nightmare of going to work and being stopped,” Castañeda Mondragón said, “or that you’re buying your food somewhere, your lunch, and they show up and stop you again. They hit you.”

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  • House panel advances bills limiting ICE activity in Virginia – WTOP News

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    Lawmakers say the proposals are designed to protect access to courts, schools, polling places and other locations while restoring public trust shaken by recent federal immigration enforcement activity.

    This article was reprinted with permission from Virginia Mercury. 

    A Democratic House subcommittee early Friday morning advanced a broad slate of bills aimed at tightening how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can operate in Virginia.

    Lawmakers and supporters say the package of proposals is designed to protect access to courts, schools, polling places and other sensitive locations while restoring public trust shaken by recent federal immigration enforcement activity.

    The measures, many of which were consolidated because of overlapping goals, now head to the full House Public Safety Committee.

    Taken together, the bills would require judicial warrants for certain civil immigration arrests in courthouses and other public facilities, restrict immigration enforcement near polling places, limit cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, and impose new penalties on officers who conceal their identities or impersonate federal agents.

    The subcommittee’s action comes amid heightened scrutiny of ICE activity across the commonwealth, including reports of masked or unidentified agents conducting civil arrests in and around courthouses cited by lawmakers. The courthouse arrests are a shift from prior federal policy that has drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and immigrant-rights advocates.

    Courthouse arrest limits anchor broader ICE enforcement package

    One of the central bills moving forward is House Bill 650, sponsored by Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Albemarle, which passed on a 4-1 party-line vote.

    The bill would prohibit most civil arrests in courthouses without a judicial warrant or order and shield people required to attend court — along with their family members, witnesses and others accompanying them — from civil arrest while traveling to, attending or leaving court proceedings. Any violation could be punished as contempt of court.

    “This bill is responsive to ICE enforcement activities that are happening in courthouses,” Callsen told the subcommittee.

    “Since January 2025, ICE has reversed longstanding policies and started ramping up warrantless civil and administrative arrests within our courthouses.”

    She said agents have appeared “sometimes masked and often unidentified,” creating confusion for court personnel and fear among victims and witnesses.

    “If people are afraid to come to court, it hurts us all,” Callsen said, adding that the bill would codify the long-standing principle that arrests in courthouses require a warrant.

    Because of their similar scope, lawmakers voted to merge several other proposals into Callsen’s bill before sending it forward.

    Among them was HB 1260 by Del. Irene Shin, D-Fairfax, which would require public K-12 schools to notify parents and staff if federal immigration enforcement officers are present on school property and would bar access to nonpublic school areas without a judicial warrant.

    The bill would impose similar notification and warrant requirements at public colleges and universities.

    Shin said the proposal mirrors laws adopted in other states and was shaped by concerns in her district. In Herndon, she said, parents have seen immigration enforcement activity near school drop-off and pick-up times.

    “It seems like a pretty crazy time to go and prey on vulnerable communities,” Shin said.

    She emphasized that the bill distinguishes between judicial warrants and administrative paperwork, requiring the former to access nonpublic spaces.

    Also folded into Callsen’s measure was HB 1265 by Del. Jackie Glass, D-Norfolk, which largely mirrors Callsen’s courthouse protections. Glass said similar laws have already withstood federal challenges in other states.

    “They have defended themselves against the federal government,” she said of New York. “So that’s proof that the concept works, it’s necessary.”

    Two other bills by Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, were also merged into the courthouse proposal.

    HB 1440 would prohibit federal immigration enforcement in nonpublic spaces of certain “protected areas,” including schools, hospitals, commonwealth’s attorney offices and other facilities designated by the attorney general, unless authorized by a judicial warrant or subpoena.

    And HB 1442 would bar immigration enforcement activities within 40 feet of polling places, election board meetings or recount sites.

    Lopez framed the proposals as a defense of core civic functions.

    “The commonwealth has a right and duty to ensure that we have free and fair elections,” he said of the polling-place restrictions, arguing that immigration enforcement near voting locations could intimidate eligible voters.

    On protected areas, Lopez said the goal is to prevent “harassment by federal agents in areas that would provide important community services, like education, health care, and legal assistance.”

    Lawmakers target officer anonymity concerns

    In addition to the merged package, the subcommittee advanced several standalone bills targeting related issues.

    HB 1482, by Del. Charlie Schmidt, D-Richmond, passed 4-1 and would prohibit state and local law-enforcement officers from wearing most facial coverings while performing their duties, with exceptions for health protection and SWAT operations.

    The bill would also require officers to visibly display identification and create criminal penalties and civil liability for violations.

    Christian Martinez Lemus of CASA, speaking in support, cited a December incident in which a masked individual posing as an ICE agent went door to door in Northern Virginia.

    “When people can’t tell the difference between real law enforcement and imposters, it creates fear that prevents them from seeking help when they need it,” he said.

    April Breslaw of the Virginia Grassroots Coalition echoed those concerns, telling lawmakers that anonymity “undermines public trust, endangers public safety, and hinders legitimate law enforcement operations.”

    The panel also approved HB 1492, sponsored by Shin, which would increase penalties for impersonating a federal law-enforcement officer, elevating the offense to a felony.

    Two bills addressing cooperation between Virginia law enforcement and federal immigration authorities were combined and also passed 4-1.

    The measures follow Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Executive Order 12, issued earlier this week, which formally ended an agreement with the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement that allowed Virginia State Police and state correctional officers to assist with federal immigration operations.

    HB 1441, by Lopez, would bar state and local officers from assisting in federal immigration enforcement unless required by law or presented with a valid judicial warrant, subpoena or detainer.

    And HB 1438, by Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, would prohibit state agencies from entering agreements that deputize officers as federal immigration agents and require existing agreements to be terminated by September 2026.

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    Diane Morris

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