FILE - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers wait to detain a person, Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (CBS) — The Trump administration has begun a massive deployment of hundreds of Department of Homeland Security agents to the Twin Cities area as it escalates its federal crackdown amid a widening fraud scandal in Minnesota, multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the plan told CBS News.
The crackdown could involve roughly 2,000 agents and officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation branch and Homeland Security Investigations, the agency’s investigative arm tasked with fighting transnational crimes, the officials said. They requested anonymity to discuss operations that have not been publicly announced.
The plan is for the agents and officers to oversee a 30-day surge in operations in the Twin Cities area, making the region the first major target of the Trump administration’s expanded immigration crackdown in the new year, officials said. Agents deployed from Homeland Security Investigations are expected to probe alleged cases of fraud, building on last month’s inspection of dozens of sites in the Minneapolis area.
Officials said U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino, who has overseen controversial immigration roundups in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans, is expected to arrive in Minnesota to help lead immigration enforcement efforts, along with an unknown number of U.S. Border Patrol personnel.
The deployment, which began Sunday, represents one of the largest concentrations of DHS personnel in an American city in recent years. The move greatly expands the federal law enforcement footprint in Minnesota at a time of heightened political and community tension there.
According to senior law enforcement officials, the surge includes several hundred additional agents from Homeland Security Investigations, as well as hundreds of officers from ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, which carries out immigration arrests and deportations. Tactical units known as Special Response Teams are also slated to be part of the operation, along with a layered command structure of dozens of high-ranking supervisors.
One former law enforcement official described the scale as extraordinary, noting that the number of HSI agents being sent to Minneapolis is roughly equivalent to the entire HSI workforce assigned to the state of Arizona. “This is a massive resource allocation,” the official said, adding that Minneapolis is effectively becoming “the new Chicago,” referencing past large-scale federal enforcement deployments in Illinois.
Multiple officials told CBS News the total federal presence could ultimately become even larger, with as many as 600 HSI agents and up to 1,500 ICE ERO officers rotating through the Minneapolis area over the course of the month-long deployment.
CBS News has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Late last year, ICE launched an immigration enforcement campaign in the Twin Cities, dubbed Operation Metro Surge, targeting immigrants who had been issued deportation orders, including those from Somalia. As of Dec. 19, ICE had carried out nearly 700 arrests as part of the operation, according to DHS.
The new surge comes amid intense state and federal scrutiny of Minnesota following years of high-profile fraud cases involving federally funded programs. They have included some of the largest pandemic-era and post-pandemic fraud schemes in the country, like the Feeding Our Future case, which led to dozens of indictments and convictions.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 90 people in Minnesota-based fraud cases since 2021, with more than 60 convictions so far, according to court records. Investigators have revealed the alleged schemes span multiple federal programs, including nutrition, housing stabilization and child care assistance, with potential losses estimated in the billions of dollars.
In recent weeks, federal activity across the Minneapolis area has increased, with HSI agents canvassing businesses and ICE officers conducting arrests in and around immigrant-populated neighborhoods. That uptick in law enforcement activity has prompted protests, confrontations and widespread fear among immigrant communities — particularly within Minnesota’s large Somali-American population.
President Trump has regularly cited Somalia — often in incendiary terms — to justify his mass deportation campaign. Last month, Mr. Trump called people from Somalia “garbage” and said they “contribute nothing.”
“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” the president said. “Their country’s no good for a reason. Their country stinks.”
At the same time, Minnesota officials led by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz have pushed back on claims that the state failed to act, pointing to audits, third-party reviews, the appointment of a program-integrity director and the creation of a statewide fraud-prevention council.
But Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, announced Monday that he will not seek reelection to a third term as criticism has boiled over.
Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the governor met with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Sunday, as the fellow Democrat considers whether or not to enter the race.
The Department of Health and Human Services has frozen $185 million in federal child care payments to Minnesota, citing ongoing fraud concerns. The governor and other state leaders have warned that the move, along with a heightened federal law enforcement presence, risks harming legitimate businesses and families who rely on public assistance programs.
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