Homeland Security surging more agents to Minneapolis

The Department of Homeland Security is surging immigration agents to Minneapolis this week as it further escalates its crackdown on the Twin Cities region.

The Department of Homeland Security is surging immigration agents to Minneapolis this week as it further escalates its crackdown on the Twin Cities region after a right-wing YouTuber alleged fraud by Somalis living there, according to two senior DHS officials.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which began ramping up arrests of undocumented immigrants in the Minneapolis area in early December, will be sending 1,500 deportation officers from Enforcement and Removal Operations as well as 600 agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the officials said. Some of the officers and agents began arriving Sunday, one of the officials said.

The surge stems from a viral video that alleged Somali-run day cares were receiving federal subsidies but that no children were present.

As a result, the Department of Health and Human Services cut funding to day cares in Minnesota and put restrictions on federal subsidies to day cares serving low-income children nationwide.

But the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families said its investigators conducted on-site compliance checks at nine of the 10 facilities. One of the facilities had closed in 2022.