Vice President JD Vance will be in Minneapolis on Thursday for a roundtable with local leaders and community members amid the federal government's immigration crackdown in the state.
According to the White House, after the roundtable, Vance will "deliver remarks focused on restoring law and order in Minnesota."
Vance is the federal government's latest envoy to the state amid multiple Department of Justice investigations and the ongoing presence of overwhelming numbers of immigration agents.
Here's the latest on the ICE surge in Minnesota
- A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily paused a judge's ruling that restricted the force federal agents can use on peaceful protesters in Minneapolis.
- A top Minnesota law enforcement official is rejecting repeated accusations by the Department of Homeland Security that state authorities have been releasing hundreds of dangerous criminals into the streets, rather than turning them over to federal immigration agents.
- Two men detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appeared in federal court hearings Wednesday, including the Venezuelan national who was shot in the leg by ICE agents last week in north Minneapolis. Both were granted conditional release, but the decision has been stayed until noon Thursday. They do have ICE detainers, so they will likely end up in ICE custody again.
- Faith leaders held a news conference Tuesday in the Twin Cities to announce the participation of "hundreds of Minnesota places of worship" in A Day of Truth and Freedom — which calls for people to not work, shop or go to school this Friday.
AG Pam Bondi announces arrest in church protest
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday announced that Nekima Levy Armstrong was arrested in connection with the disruption of services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as a pastor.
The incident happened on Sunday, as a group joined services at the Cities Church in St. Paul before chanting "ICE out" and "Justice for Renee Good." One of the church's pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office, and one of the leaders of the protest and prominent local activist Armstrong said she's also an ordained pastor.
ICE takes 5-year-old boy and his father after using boy to get father to answer front door, school district says
School district officials in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, say their sense of security is shaken and their hearts shattered after four students from the district were recently taken by officers with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An immigration lawyer has been working around the clock since ICE detentions began
Operation Metro Surge started in the Twin Cities metro area nearly two months ago. The Trump administration says they've arrested at least 3,000 immigrants in Minnesota. But federal officials have released only limited information about those who have been detained.
When WCCO looked at cases online, most filed recently are habeas corpus, which an attorney clarifies means someone is in federal custody who maybe shouldn't be.
"Not a single one of my clients detained has a criminal record and all of them were in a process of some kind," said immigration lawyer Carrie Peltier.
Peltier says she's been working nonstop for the past year.
In:
