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The Trump administration claims they are targeting criminal migrants in Minnesota. Local reporting shows U.S. citizens and legal immigrants are being detained.

Local coverage has highlighted federal agents detaining U.S. citizens, seemingly based on their race, and violently arresting lawful protestors

Written by Pete Tsipis

Research contributions from Ben Van Bloem

Published

The Trump administration has ordered thousands of federal agents to Minnesota amid backlash and protests after an ICE agent killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good. President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act against protestors and declared that “the day of reckoning & retribution is coming” to Minnesota.  

While Trump administration officials have claimed the operation is targeting “criminal alien[s],” local news outlets have reported that U.S. citizens and legal immigrants have been detained by federal agents.

  • Trump administration officials claimed that federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota targets “worst of the worst” criminals and that U.S. citizens have “no reason to be scared”

    • U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents in Minnesota have “no reason to be scared” about federal immigration agents. Bovino added, “If they are a criminal alien or an illegal alien, then they should probably be very scared.” [WCCO, 1/13/26]
    • Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons says ICE has been arresting “the worst of the worst” since they’ve been in Minneapolis. Lyons said, “If you look at exactly what we have arrested just in the short time since we've been in Minneapolis, that is the worst of the worst and you would hope that's the people that you want out of your community.” [Fox News, America Reports, 1/14/26]
    • Lyons denied that ICE agents were racially profiling people in Minnesota and claimed the agency is going after criminals, saying, “We conduct targeted enforcement so we know exactly who we're going after.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 1/12/26]
    • Lyons later said that while ICE is going after criminals, they will question people they “encounter.” Lyons stated, “If we encounter individuals that are out there while we’re looking for those folks, and during our questions they are here illegally, well then we're going to arrest them too.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 1/12/26]
    • Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that anti-ICE protestors in Minnesota are defending “some of the worst of the worst criminals.” Leavitt said, “You see these agitators who have been violently protesting and harassing ICE agents all weekend long. What are they out there protesting for? … These are illegal alien criminal pedophiles, murderers, rapists, some of the worst of the worst criminals who, if given the chance, would commit those same heinous crimes to the protesters in the streets of Minneapolis right now.” [Fox News, America Reports, 1/12/26]

  • Local news outlets have covered U.S. citizens being detained by ICE and CBP

    • WCCO reported on ICE agents demanding papers and detaining U.S. citizens in Minnesota. Victims of these incidents say they were racially profiled when being targeted and detained by agents. Restaurant owner Luis Escoto, who said he is a citizen of 30 years, stated, “I love this country more than my life. … It is so sad to see that they are destroying it.” [WCCO, WCCO News at Six, 1/13/26]

  • From the January 13, 2026, edition of WCCO's WCCO News at Six

    • One observer, who brought her passport, said she was violently arrested and mocked by ICE agents while being detained. Patty O’Keefe told Minnesota Public Radio that the agent said to her, “‘you guys gotta stop obstructing us, that’s why that lesbian b—— is dead.’” [MPR News, 1/13/26]
    • A classroom assistant was detained by ICE outside of the school where she works. Christina Rank, a U.S. citizen, was detained by ICE outside of Concord Education Center, a middle school that serves students with special needs. An ICE agent claimed she “rammed” his car, but witnesses of the collision dispute the agent’s claim, saying they saw the agent hit Rank’s car. Rank was held at a detention facility for 12 hours. [Bring Me The News, 1/12/26; St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1/12/26]
    • Two U.S. citizens working at Target were violently arrested by agents after Greg Bovino asked them if they were citizens. Videos show agents tackling and detaining one of the employees after he steps in a doorway. [KARE, KARE 11 News at 6:30, 1/13/26]

  • From the January 13. 2026, edition of KARE's KARE 11 News at 6:30

    • KARE reporter Joe McCoy spoke with two U.S. citizens who were held in an ICE facility after being detained during a protest. One of the citizens said they were never read their Miranda Rights and were held in a cell marked “USC on it for U.S. citizens.” They also said they were in shackles the entire time they were detained and had “pseudo mug shots taken of them on cell phones.” [KARE, KARE 11 News at 10, 1/9/26]
    • KMSP spoke with a U.S. citizen who said he was taken into custody by ICE while witnessing an arrest, despite obeying an agent’s orders. [KMSP, FOX 9 News at 11AM, 1/13/26]
    • KMSP also reported on a U.S. citizen who was detained by ICE agents after recording them on his phone. Ryan Ecklund said ICE agents removed him from his car, put him in a headlock, and forced him to the ground. Ecklund was held at a detention facility for over nine hours. [KMSP, 1/13/26]
    • Four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were detained by ICE in Minnesota. President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Frank Star Comes Out, said on January 13 that three of the four tribal members were still in ICE detention and that DHS was withholding information from the tribe. [Pioneer Press, 1/13/26]

  • Local coverage also shows people with legal status and asylum seekers being targeted

    • KARE reporter Samie Solina spoke with daycare centers in the Minneapolis area who said daycare workers with legal status were detained by ICE. Two Spanish-immersion daycares said they had employees detained by ICE, one in a daycare parking lot, even though the workers were legally allowed to work in the U.S. Another daycare said DHS agents sought to enter their center without a warrant. [KARE, KARE 11 News at 6:30, 1/13/26]
    • KMSP anchor Tom Butler reported on an asylum seeker with a rare genetic skin disorder who has been in ICE detention. The man is currently seeking asylum from Libya and his case is still pending. The man’s brother said he is forced to sleep on a concrete floor and share one bathroom with 30 people. [KMSP, FOX 9 News at 11AM, 1/13/26]
    • Anchor Raya Quttaineh spoke with Alison Beckman, a clinician from the Center for Victims of Torture, who explained how ICE raids in Minnesota are impacting legal immigrants who suffered torture in their home countries. Beckman explained, “This is the very thing that they fled in their home country and they're starting to see it play out in front of them.” [KARE, KARE11 News Sunday, 1/11/26]