Where things stand
• Latest from the Twin Cities: The White House says Vice President JD Vance plans to visit ICE agents in Minneapolis, which has been the epicenter of recent unrest over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Two people have been arrested after a protest at a church in St. Paul, where demonstrators objected to a pastor who appears to serve as a top ICE official.
• Crackdown widens: Meanwhile, an enforcement campaign is underway in Maine, with its sizable Somali population now the latest target of the administration’s turbocharged, coast-to-coast immigration operations.
• ICE directive under fire: Federal agents are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal ICE memo obtained by the Associated Press. Democratic lawmakers are sounding the alarm.
Corrections chief says feds taking credit for catching immigration suspects handed over by prison
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement accuses corrections officials in Minnesota of refusing to turn over immigration suspects flagged by the agency, the leader of the state’s prisons says ICE has been taking credit for apprehending suspects the state turned over to them.
In a news conference as he pointed to two suspects ICE had said were detained as part of Operation Metro Surge, Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell showed video of the suspects being turned over directly to agents inside a prison sallyport.
“They’re secured, and they are taken to wherever ICE takes them, and yet a day later, they show up as being caught up in the Operation Metro Surge (news) release,” said Schnell. “It’s just not a characterization that ICE had to go out into the community and nab these people. In fact, there was a coordinated transfer of custody.”
In an earlier news conference, ICE official Marcos Charles suggested that detainers sent to “the state’s jails and prisons” weren’t being honored. He later acknowledged the state Department of Corrections had fully cooperated, but said most local sheriffs did not.
Schnell said it is up to ICE when they choose to take custody of suspect, and they can’t be held in state facilities indefinitely.
“Neither the Department of Corrections or county jails are permitted to retain custody of a person beyond their release date or contrary to judicial order,” he said.
State corrections chief challenges DHS statistics on ICE detainers in Minnesota, calls it possible "propaganda"
Minnesota corrections officials pushed back sharply in a news conference Thursday against federal immigration statistics, accusing the US Department of Homeland Security of publishing incorrect and misleading numbers about ICE detainers in the state.
Paul Schnell, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said the state felt compelled to respond after DHS continued to cite figures that do not align with Minnesota’s data.
DHS has publicly claimed there are more than 1,360 individuals with ICE detainers in Minnesota custody, according to Schnell.
In response, Minnesota conducted a point-in-time survey of county jails, finding a total 301 individuals with ICE detainers — “nowhere close” to the federal figure.
“They continue to publicly repeat information that is inaccurate and misleading. This is no longer simple misunderstanding,” Schnell added.
Schnell outlined what he described as fundamental flaws in DHS’ claims, suggesting the issue could range from “systemic data management inadequacies or incompetence” to “pure propaganda, numbers released without evidence to stoke fear rather than inform the public.”
He said the department has repeatedly asked DHS to provide underlying data, methodologies or jurisdictional breakdowns but has received no response. County sheriffs are similarly confused, he added, warning that DHS’ apparent record-keeping failures “should concern all of us now.”
Schnell emphasized that the Minnesota Department of Corrections operates state prisons only — not county jails or ICE detention facilities — and does not control ICE detainer decisions. When those systems are conflated, he said, “the result is misinformation.”
5-year-old Minneapolis boy and father detained at Texas ICE facility, source says
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was taken by federal agents Tuesday along with his father from their driveway after returning home from preschool in suburban Minneapolis, is currently detained with his dad at an ICE facility in Texas, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, and his young son are being held at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, an ICE facility for families. They were transferred to the facility after being apprehended in Minneapolis.
They presented themselves to border officers in Texas in December 2024 to apply for asylum, according to the family’s lawyer, Mark Prokosch.
In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE was conducting an operation to arrest the child’s father when he “fled on foot-abandoning his child.”
“For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended” the father, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to CNN.
The department said the father was released from federal custody under the Biden administration.
The Dilley facility — intended to be a residential detention center, not a criminal facility — is designed to house families, with a series of beige trailers with dedicated spaces for a library, gym and classroom. Children at Dilley range from infants to teenagers.
Judge rejects Justice Department's initial attempt to bring charges against Don Lemon
A federal magistrate judge rejected the Justice Department’s initial attempt to bring charges against journalist Don Lemon for appearing alongside protesters who breached a Minnesota church over the weekend, a source told CNN.
“The Attorney General is enraged at the magistrate judge’s decision,” a person familiar with the matter said. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been on the ground in Minnesota for two days meeting with federal prosecutors from the state.
Lemon, who is a former CNN host who now makes content independently, was with dozens of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters as they rushed into Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota on Sunday morning, interrupting a church service and leading to tense confrontations, CNN has reported.
Lemon has said that he was present at the demonstration as a journalist and not as a protester. In a video of the episode that he posted on YouTube, Lemon says “I’m just here photographing, I’m not part of the group… I’m a journalist.”
The Justice Department has arrested two people involved in the protests, CNN has reported.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Lemon. The Department of Justice could always try again to bring charges against him.
This post has been updated with additional information.
ICE official defends use of controversial warrants to arrest people in their homes
As federal agents forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant – which some call a violation of the Fourth Amendment – an ICE official justified how the agency is making arrests.
“We don’t break into anybody’s homes.” said Marcos Charles, the executive associate director of ICE enforcement and removal operations.
“We make entry in either a hot pursuit with a criminal arrest warrant or an administrative arrest warrant.”
Administrative warrants require less evidence than judicial warrants. They are signed by authorized ICE officers – not judges – and are used to arrest people who have a final order of removal but might not have a criminal background.
Prior to the federal surge in Minnesota, immigration lawyers said administrative warrants don’t allow ICE officers to enter someone’s home without consent – though just opening the door could be interpreted as consent.
But the Associated Press reported a memo signed last year by ICE acting director Todd Lyons that said although DHS “has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”
While administrative warrants don’t need signoff by a criminal court judge, the warrants “are based on an immigration judge’s decision that these individuals are now removable from the United States,” Charles said Thursday.
“This is their final order removal, and those warrants are based on that decision.”
READ MORE: ICE officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says
Bovino says Minneapolis Police not responding to federal calls for assistance
The leader of Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities says local police are not responding to agents’ calls for assistance when protest situations get tense.
“Minneapolis Police Department has been called on several situations that they have not responded (to),” Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino said, including Wednesday, when a large group of demonstrators confronted Bovino, and he tossed a tear gas canister into the crowd after a warning.
Bovino also said two off-duty agents were confronted by “agitators” in a restaurant for 40 minutes and had to be rescued by a tactical team after attempting to call Minneapolis Police, saying, “They never showed up.”
“That’s what we’re up against as far as state and local help, if that gives you any indication of the depth and scope of that,” Bovino said.
The Minneapolis Police Department has not responded to a request from CNN for details on how they respond to calls from immigration agents.
The department’s official written policy says, “If a situation arises where federal agents, including immigration officers, are being assaulted, or if there is a clear and immediate threat to life, serious injury, or destruction of property, members are expected to take appropriate action to maintain public safety and restore order.”
CNN’s Josh Campbell contributed to this report.
Bovino describes a daylong “running battle,” saying the climate is hostile to agents
Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official, praised the work of agents in Minnesota, saying they have taken criminals off the streets “by the dozens and sometimes hundreds every single day.”
“But what I would like to touch upon this morning is how much better this work could be … for the taxpayer,” Bovino said at a news conference Thursday.
He said the current climate surrounding law enforcement is “not very favorable to federal law enforcement here in Minneapolis.”
He said federal agents “were set upon by violent protesters, anarchists, rioters” set on impeding federal agents on Wednesday.
“Yesterday, I had the fortunate opportunity to once again work with those fine agents in ICE and Border Patrol,” Bovino said. “All day long, it was a running battle with those very extremists that I’ve talked about.”
Protesters in Minneapolis are "stalking" federal agents, Border Patrol commander says
Federal immigration agents in Minneapolis are encountering “rioters” who are “stalking” them at public places and local police and elected officials have not intervened, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said at a news conference today.
Bovino cited one instance where a “violent” group tried to stop ICE officers from using the restroom at a gas station.
“A lot of people would call that stalking,” Bovino said.
“I don’t think any of us would like to be stalked, but being stalked for eight or 10 hours at a time is not a very favorable climate,” Bovino said. “Hey, folks, where were the cops yesterday? Where was Minneapolis Police Department during that eight-hour stalking event? Anybody care to venture a guess? I’d like to venture a guess. And it’s, I don’t know.”
Two women involved in protest at St. Paul church have been arrested, Attorney General Pam Bondi says
Two women who were among a group of protesters who interrupted a church service in St. Paul Sunday to protest a pastor who appears to be a top ICE official in the Twin Cities, were arrested Thursday morning, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
“Minutes ago at my direction, (Homeland Security Investigations) and @FBI agents executed an arrest in Minnesota,” Bondi posted on X, identifying Nekima Levy Armstrong as the target. The post did not say what charges she may face.
CNN has reached out to a representative of Levy Armstrong for comment.
Bondi later announced a second arrest, posting, “Chauntyll Louisa Allen has been taken into custody.”
“Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP,” Bondi wrote.
At a speech in Toledo, Ohio, this morning, Vice President JD Vance said he had been told by Bondi “they finally arrested the ringleader” of the protest.
In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett before the arrest was announced, Levy Armstrong said she was the first protester to speak inside Cities Church during Sunday’s service, asking the pastor who was leading the service to explain David Easterwood’s connection to the congregation. Easterwood is listed on the church website as one of the pastors and also appears to be the same person who is a top ICE official in the Twin Cities.
Levy Armstrong denied their goal was to interfere with worship.
“We didn’t rush in. We didn’t bust in,” she said Wednesday. “We were a part of the service until I got up and posed that question to the (lead) pastor.”
After the interaction with the lead pastor, video shows dozens of people chanting “Justice for Renee Good” and engaging in angry exchanges with members of the congregation.
This story has been updated with additional information.
ICE guidance on administrative warrants to forcibly enter homes was not broadly distributed, sources say
Senior Homeland Security officials began drafting guidance early last year on administrative warrants that would provide more authority for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to forcibly enter homes during enforcement operations, according to a Trump administration official and source familiar.
The guidance, dated May 2025 and in part drafted by officials in DHS’ general counsel office, was not broadly distributed to ICE field offices, marking a departure from the way major policy changes are typically disseminated.
Instead, in at least some cases, the guidance appeared to be shared verbally, according to a source familiar, outside of the usual distribution channels.
Other ICE officials learned about the guidance for the first time when the Associated Press released a story yesterday on the ICE memo authorizing agents to enter people’s homes with an administrative warrant instead of a judicial warrant, which is the longstanding policy.
At the academy, new ICE hires continue to receive the same training materials, which teach that an administrative warrant cannot be used for entry on private property, and they are told to consult with local attorneys to ensure compliance.
New written guidance on administrative warrants was not distributed at the academy.
The big picture: Trump administration officials have long harbored frustrations over the limitations on immigration enforcement officers pursuing targets, particularly on private property. While it’s unclear whether White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller came up with the idea of the newer guidance, sources told CNN he supported it.
In a social media post commenting on the guidance, DHS said, “If an illegal alien has a final deportation order from an immigration judge and they refuse to leave, they are a fugitive from justice.”
“In every case we serve an administrative warrant, there is probable cause and the illegal alien has had full due process and a final order of removal,” DHS added.
Bovino calls Minneapolis protesters "anarchists" and promises to continue ICE mission
Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations leader Marcos Charles spoke at a news conference this morning to defend an ongoing federal immigration operation in Minneapolis, a day after tense clashes between officers and protesters.
Charles, the acting executive associate director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, recast the protests as a threat to the arrests of dangerous offenders and detailed what he said were recent ICE arrests of “illegal aliens,” including alleged gang members and sex offenders.
“These are the people who the church agitators were protesting for,” he said. “It’s easy to debate immigration enforcement when it’s abstract, but behind every one of these arrests is someone who committed a crime that put your friends, family, neighbors, community in danger.”
Charles said local leadership has “dropped the ball,” underscoring the widening divide between federal authorities and local critics over immigration enforcement and protest response in the city.
Bovino added the agency intends to continue improving its work and called the protesters “anarchists.”
“How much better can we do what we do, and how much better for who? For you, which you being Ma and Pa, America and the taxpayer,” he said.
ICE announces new effort targeting “worst of the worst” undocumented immigrants in Maine
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it has launched “Operation Catch of the Day,” which targets undocumented immigrants in Maine accused of crimes.
The immigrants targeted are accused of committing crimes such as aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than protect law-abiding American citizens,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
Vance says he wants to "calm tensions" in Minneapolis and that ICE has made some mistakes
Vice President JD Vance said one of his goals in traveling to Minneapolis is “to calm the tensions” in the city, but he also said ICE had made some mistakes while carrying out the administration’s immigration policy.
“Well, certainly one of my goals is to calm the tensions, to talk to people, to try to understand what we can do better,” Vance told reporters while speaking at an event in Toledo, Ohio.
His tone was different from the defensive rhetoric he’s often used to address ICE’s actions.
“Of course, there have been mistakes made, because you’re always going to have mistakes made in law enforcement,” he said when addressing President Donald Trump’s comments earlier this week that ICE “is going to make mistakes sometimes.”
The vice president added: “The number one way where we could lower the mistakes that are happening, at least with our immigration enforcement, is to have local jurisdictions that are cooperating with us.”
And he specifically pointed to what he called “chaos” in Minneapolis.
“When you look at Memphis, Tennessee, or Austin, Texas, or any other community virtually across the United States of America, and you don’t see the same level of chaos in Minneapolis, the natural conclusion is that it’s not what ICE is doing in Minneapolis, it’s what Minneapolis authorities are doing to prevent ICE from doing their jobs, and that’s exactly what’s happening,” Vance said.
Pediatrician says families, including legal residents, are afraid to get critical care
Some parents are terrified of getting medical treatment for their children because they fear getting detained by federal agents – regardless of their legal status, the president-elect of Minnesota chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics said Thursday.
“I’m a pediatrician in the heart of Minneapolis, and we are seeing ICE in our hospitals and around our clinics,” Dr. Janna Gewirtz O’Brien told CNN’s Sara Sidner on Thursday.
“This has been going on for weeks,” she said. “Families are afraid to come in because they’re worried that if they enter a hospital setting or a clinic setting for much needed - and sometimes life-saving – medical care, that they may be detained or that their family member may be detained.”
The fear “extends to folks with legal status as well,” O’Bren said – particularly families who are “Black or brown.”
For context: Other doctors said they’ve received reports of ICE agents following patients into rooms and refusing to leave during private exams. But the Department of Homeland Security said ICE doesn’t conduct enforcement activities at hospitals.
“We would only go into a hospital if there were an active danger to public safety,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CNN.
“Of course, if we have a detainee we need to take to the hospital for medical care, we have officers accompany them for their monitoring, safety of the staff, and the public,” she said. “This is standard procedure for all law enforcement agencies.”
Happening now: Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino to speak at Minneapolis news conference
Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino – who has become the face of aggressive immigration enforcement operations in multiple US cities – is expected to speak this morning at a news conference about the current operation in Minneapolis.
Yesterday, Bovino was seen lobbing a canister into a crowd of protesters after a warning. Moments later, green gas is seen coming from the device as the protesters scatter.
Bovino is being joined at the news conference by Marcos Charles, the assistant director of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Videos show man get pepper sprayed while federal agents hold him down
A man was pepper sprayed at close range in the face while federal agents held him on the ground as protesters clashed Wednesday afternoon with agents in Minneapolis, videos show.
The man was pinned to the ground by three federal agents as a Border Patrol agent approached and sprayed him in the face; videos captured by Sam and Ben Luhmann show the scene unfold.
The incident began after at least two teens were taken away by federal agents nearby, Minnesota Star Tribune photographer Richard Tsong-Taatarii said of what he saw. That hiked tensions as protesters yelled, blew whistles and argued with federal agents.
It is unclear why the man was held on the ground and pepper sprayed. CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about this incident.
Watch the moment unfold here:
Vance urges people to "stop fighting" ICE ahead of Minneapolis visit
Vice President JD Vance urged people to “stop fighting immigration enforcement” ahead of his visit to Minneapolis later Thursday.
“If you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country. It’s not that hard,” he said during a remarks in Toledo, Ohio, where he stopped before Minneapolis in an attempt to boost Republican candidates in the state.
Vance said “most people are cooperating” with immigration enforcement and blamed the “far left” for the resistance to ICE operations across the country.
“Well, I’ll tell you right now the Trump administration, we reject that. We are going to get illegal criminals out of our country, and we’re not going to let a few left wing radicals stop us,” he said.
Federal agent sprays chemical on a protester who’s already pinned to the ground
A protester pinned to the ground by at least two federal agents was sprayed directly in the face by another agent with a can of chemical irritant inches away from the man’s head.
A photo taken by The Minnesota Star Tribune shows an opaque stream of orange chemical irritant blasting into the protester’s face before it cascades into a puddle on cold, wet concrete.
When photographer Rich Tsong-Taatarii arrived at the Minneapolis protest Wednesday afternoon, witnesses said at least two teens had been taken away by federal agents, the Star Tribune reported.
“People were really mad, and the whole scene started moving from near 28th to 29th with the Border Patrol trying to get out of there, and people were in their face yelling at them,” Tsong-Taatarii said.
The tension escalated when a Border Patrol agent shoved a woman on a bicycle to the ground, according to the Star Tribune.
“This is when people got really riled up,” Tsong-Taatarii said. He said agents started deploying tear gas and other chemical irritants.
Tsong-Taatrii did not see the man who was pinned to the ground put his hands on agents.
The Department of Homeland Security said Border Patrol agents were “repeatedly harassed and blocked by hostile crowds while simply trying to take bathroom breaks.”
“At each gas station where the agents stopped to use the restroom, groups of agitators appeared, yelled at them, stalked them, and even tried to prevent law enforcement vehicles from leaving, creating unsafe conditions,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“At one stop, individuals in the crowd threw food at the agents. At their final gas station stop, someone spit on an agent. When an agent moved to detain the person who spit on him, the crowd tackled and attacked the agents while surrounding them. To safely clear the area agents had to use crowd control measures to disperse the hostile crowd.”
READ MORE: Blood. Pain. Disorientation. Here’s what protesters say “less-lethal” weapons feel like.
Renee Good’s family attorney responds to Trump's remark about the slain woman's father
The voting choices of relatives of Renee Good, the mother of three shot dead by an ICE officer this month in Minneapolis, are not relevant as her loved ones seek justice in her killing, an attorney for the family told CNN.
His comments followed President Donald Trump’s remark that he hopes Good’s father remains a Trump fan. Good’s father is a Trump supporter who is deeply upset by his daughter’s death and the White House’s portrayal of her, Trump was told during an interview with CBS News.
What matters most now is Good’s loved ones remain “unified in their quest for justice and accountability,” lawyer Antonio Romanucci told CNN’s Laura Coates.
Federal agents’ aggressive moves in Minnesota visualized
Tensions are high in Minnesota after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her SUV earlier this month.
Good’s death sparked outrage against ICE’s continued presence and the Department of Homeland Security’s aggressive tactics by armed, masked agents in the Twin Cities — in both immigration enforcement operations and crackdowns on protesters.
DHS has defended its agents’ actions, with Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin telling CNN: “DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”
CNN reviewed and geolocated videos that demonstrate just some examples of federal agents’ tactics in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Have a look here.
