What we covered here
• Crackdown widens: An immigration enforcement campaign is underway in Maine, a state that is home to a sizable Somali population, becoming the latest target of the Trump administration’s turbocharged, coast-to-coast crackdown.
• Legal battles in Minnesota: A federal appeals court froze a judge’s order that limits how federal agents can operate around peaceful protesters in Operation Metro Surge. The pause comes amid pressure on multiple state and local officials from the Justice Department.
• Autopsy in Good case: Preliminary findings released from an independent autopsy commissioned by Renee Good’s family showed three gunshot wound paths, according to the law firm representing the family. The Department of Homeland Security said it stands by the agency’s “facts of what happened,” in response to the report, calling her death “entirely preventable.”
Our live coverage of the immigration crackdown has moved here.
ICE targeting 1,400 people in Maine operation, official tells Fox News
The immigration enforcement operation in Maine, dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day,” is targeting around 1,400 people in the state, Patricia Hyde, a deputy assistant director with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, told Fox News.
The people ICE is targeting are accused of a variety of crimes, ranging from sexual assault to driving under the influence, Hyde told Fox on Tuesday, the day operations officially launched. “You name it, they’re on the target list,” she said.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the operation Wednesday, saying arrests had been made, without specifying a number.
CNN has reached out to DHS for more information.
The state’s governor, a Democrat, and leaders in Portland, the state’s most populous city, have expressed concern over the operation and federal agents’ tactics.
Senator calls for Noem to testify over ICE memo authorizing officers to enter homes without a judge’s warrant
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE chief Todd Lyons to testify before Congress about an internal memo authorizing ICE officers to enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant.
Blumenthal sent a letter to the chairs of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the Judiciary Committee asking them to “immediately” call for the testimony following “a shocking anonymous whistleblower disclosure … detailing ICE’s new secret policy to ignore the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and enter private homes without a judicial warrant.”
The memo, which Blumenthal said was sent to his office in a whistleblower complaint, authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal. It breaks with longstanding guidance meant to respect limits on government searches.
The Connecticut senator also sent a letter Wednesday to Noem and Lyons, the acting director of ICE, writing, “The Fourth Amendment is a bedrock principle of our Constitution and an integral privacy protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, especially in the most intimate of settings, the home.”
Blumenthal said in the letter to Noem and Lyons that the memo, asserting that immigration officers have these sweeping powers, should “appall every American.”
The Associated Press first reported on the internal memo.
"This was entirely preventable," DHS says in response to independent autopsy of Renee Good
The Department of Homeland Security said it stands by the agency’s “facts of what happened in Minneapolis” during the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, after CNN reached out for comment regarding an independent autopsy of Good’s injuries.
The autopsy, released by Good’s family attorney Wednesday, showed “three clear gunshot wound paths” – two of which were not immediately life-threatening.
Good “was using her vehicle to block-in law enforcement officers and impede lawful operations—a felony,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to CNN.
“She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, a deadly weapon, to hit a federal law enforcement officer,” McLaughlin said, adding that the officer “fired defensive shots” after fearing for his life.
“If you impede law enforcement operations, ignore law commands, and use a deadly weapon to kill or cause bodily harm to a federal law enforcement office there are dangerous, and in this case deadly, consequences. This was entirely preventable. ” McLaughlin asserted.
Another day of immigration enforcement across the US has come to a close. Catch up on the latest
It was another news-filled day for immigration enforcement across the country as protests simmer in Minneapolis.
Here is the latest:
- Independent autopsy of Renee Good released: The law firm representing Renee Good’s family released an independent autopsy, which shows “there were three clear gunshot wound paths” to her body, including a gunshot wound to the head. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office hasn’t released the official autopsy yet.
- Four students detained by ICE, district says: Four students in the Columbia Heights school district, including a 5-year-old preschooler, have been detained by ICE, school district superintendent Zena Stenvik said. “The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken, and our hearts are shattered,” she said during a news conference.
- ICE memo asserts power to enter homes without judge’s warrant: Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.
- Federal agents deploy chemical agent: US Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino was seen deploying a chemical agent into a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis. Another video shows a green chemical agent being deployed after protesters followed federal agents from a nearby gas station to the park.
Law firm representing Renee Good’s family releases independent autopsy results
The law firm representing the family of Renee Good released the results of an independent autopsy, which shows “there were three clear gunshot wound paths” to her body.
The autopsy, which the firm said was done by “a highly respected and credentialed medical pathologist,” shows the following preliminary conclusions:
- One gunshot wound struck Good’s left forearm, causing soft tissue hemorrhage. This wound was not immediately life-threatening, the firm said.
- One gunshot wound “traversed the right breast without penetrating major organs.” This wound was also not immediately life-threatening, the firm said.
- One gunshot wound entered Good’s head on the left side near the temple and exited the right side of her head.
- There was an additional graze wound that is consistent with a firearm injury, but it did not penetrate.
The firm noted the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy hasn’t been released to the family or the legal team.
CNN has reached out to the medical examiner’s office for comment on the independent autopsy and when their results will be released. CNN also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
“We believe the evidence we are gathering and will continue to gather in our investigation will suffice to prove our case,” said lead attorney Antonio M. Romanucci.
Bovino deploys chemical agent into crowd of protesters and warns them to disperse, video shows
Video out of Minneapolis shows an altercation between protesters and US Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino near Mueller Park on Wednesday.
In the video, which follows a confrontation between protesters and federal agents near Mueller Park, protesters are seen falling on the ground with border patrol agents on top of them.
Bovino steps into frame, saying “get back” and “get down” to protesters. He appears to be holding a canister of some chemical agent.
“I’m gonna gas, get back. Gas is coming, gas is coming,” Bovino says, before throwing the canister into the crowd.
“Bovino wants escalation for his cameras,” said Ben Luhmann, who shared the video with CNN.
“They could’ve left multiple times yet chose to stay put.”
Four Minnesota students including a preschooler have been detained by ICE, superintendent says
Four students in the Columbia Heights school district, just north of Minneapolis — including a five-year-old — have been detained by ICE in the past two weeks, according to Zena Stenvik, the school district’s superintendent.
“ICE agents have been roaming our neighborhoods, circling our schools, following our buses, coming into our parking lots and taking our children,” said Stenvik.
Those detained include five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was taken Tuesday along with his father from their driveway after returning home from preschool, she said.
His family has an active asylum case and no order of deportation, according to Stenvik.
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, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to CNN.
“Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement,” she added.
Other students detained, according to Stenvik, include:
- a 17-year-old high school student who was stopped on their way to school yesterday and taken from their car,
- a 17-year-old student who was taken last week along with her mother, and
- a 10-year-old student in fourth grade who was taken two weeks ago while walking to school with her mother.
“The sense of safety in our community and around our schools is shaken, and our hearts are shattered,” Stenvik said.
This post has been updated with additional information.
“I will not be gaslit by the Trump administration,” organizer of anti-ICE church protest says
The former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, who was among the protesters inside a St. Paul church over the weekend, said she has not heard about any potential charges from the Justice Department.
Nekima Levy Armstrong, an attorney who founded the Racial Justice Network, said she and other demonstrators participated in the church service before standing up and asking the pastor about David Easterwood, who 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.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, announced a federal investigation of the protesters’ actions.
“I will not be gaslit by the Trump administration,” Armstrong told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “They are trying to turn a peaceful, non-violent demonstration into a crime.”
The national conversation, she said, should be about the “extremely brutal” tactics ICE agents have been using on the residents of the Twin Cities and Minnesota.
“How is it that they can investigate our governor, our mayor,” she said, “but they won’t investigate Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who brutally killed Renee Good?”
Green chemical agent deployed after protesters clash with federal agents in Minneapolis
Video geolocated to Mueller Park in Minneapolis shows a green chemical agent being deployed after protesters followed federal agents from a nearby gas station to the park.
White and green chemical agents can be seen being deployed by federal agents and at one point, an agent is seen dragging a person toward a vehicle in the middle of the road.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security regarding the incident.
Additional video taken minutes earlier at the gas station showed top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino standing in front of the entrance, surrounded by people holding cameras.
ICE officers assert sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, memo says
Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.
The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.
The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.
For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president’s immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure.
It is unclear how broadly the directive has been applied in immigration enforcement operations.
Read more here.
Maine governor criticizes immigration operation as administration monitors activity
Maine Gov. Janet Mills criticized an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation launched Wednesday, saying residents across the state “are fearful in the wake of ICE’s announcement.”
“If the Federal government has warrants, then it should show them,” she said in a statement. “But if they are separating working mothers from young children, solely because they sought freedom here and have committed no crime, then the Federal government is only sowing intimidation and fear and fostering division and suspicion among neighbors – none of which is welcome.”
Mills said her administration is monitoring ICE activity and is working to “ensure the safety and civil rights of people across Maine are protected.”
Immigration enforcement seen from coast to coast as Minneapolis remains on edge. Here is the latest
The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations continued across the country Wednesday as a new operation was announced in Maine, one of the latest in their region-specific campaigns.
Minneapolis continues to remain on edge two weeks after Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, with protests still happening despite frigid weather.
Here is the latest in the immigration space:
- Immigration enforcement across the country: Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a new operation in Maine dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day.” Leaders in Portland, the state’s most populous city, expressed concern with federal agents’ tactics as school attendance has already started to dip. On the west coast, a Customs and Border Protection officer in Los Angeles opened fire during a pursuit with a suspect. The officer was injured, but the suspect was not, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
- Venezuelan men arrested by ICE in court: Two Venezuelan men arrested by ICE agents last week, including one who was shot by an agent, were ordered to remain in custody during a court hearing after a judge found there was enough probable cause to proceed to trial. New court documents also shed light on what agents said happened, including the incident originating from running a license plate.
- Appeals court freezes order: A federal appeals court froze a judge’s order from last Friday that limits how federal agents can operate around peaceful protesters in Operation Metro Surge. The pause comes after the Trump administration asked the appeals court for the temporary block yesterday.
- DHS contests accounts of enforcement: After Minneapolis law enforcement leaders reported off-duty police being stopped by ICE, DHS told CNN they were unable to find a record of ICE or Border Patrol stopping and questioning a police officer. DHS also countered the account of several doctors that say federal agents were aggressively approaching patients and staff at hospitals and clinics, saying agents “would only go into a hospital if there were an active danger to public safety.”
- Vice president to visit Minneapolis: Vice President JD Vance is planning to travel Minneapolis on Thursday where he will meet with ICE agents and give remarks defending their immigration operations, White House officials told CNN. His visit comes after the administration has criticized local and state leaders’ response to immigration enforcement, with the Justice Department opening investigations into potential obstruction.
Officials in Portland, Maine, say they are concerned with ICE tactics as operation begins
Officials in Portland, Maine, are concerned with enforcement tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as they are already seeing reports of people being detained by the agency.
City Councilor Wesley Pelletier was one of the most outspoken on the council, saying, “This is a war of terror that’s being waged on our city by the federal government.”
Mayor Mark Dion said it isn’t clear how many people have been detained so far. While the city respects the law, he said, “we challenge the need for a paramilitary approach to the enforcement of federal statutes.” He added that local police do not assist ICE agents in their enforcement but will respond to incidents where there is imminent danger.
So far, Portland Public Schools has seen attendance down more than 5% overall across the district, Superintendent Ryan Scallon said, adding some schools have individually seen an attendance decrease by about 15 to 20%.
“People are afraid, they are scared,” at-large councilor Pious Ali said.
Immigration officer fires weapon in vehicle-ramming incident near Los Angeles, DHS says
A Customs and Border Protection officer on Wednesday opened fire during a pursuit with a suspect in the Willowbrook community near Los Angeles, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“DHS law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted operation in Compton, California, to arrest a violent criminal illegal alien from El Salvador,” the department said in a statement.
DHS said the suspect “weaponized his vehicle and rammed law enforcement.”
“Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired defensive shots,” the statement read.
The officer, who was not identified, was injured, according to DHS. Details of the injury were not immediately released.
The suspect was not injured and was “successfully apprehended by law enforcement,” the spokesperson said.
A crowd gathered at the scene after the incident, and some people were shouting at federal officers, video from CNN affiliate KABC showed.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it was asked to “provide outside perimeter traffic control” at the scene but “was not directly involved in the incident.”
Two Venezuelan men, including one shot by ICE agent in Minnesota, ordered held in custody
A Minnesota federal judge ruled Wednesday that two Venezuelan men arrested by ICE agents last week, including one who was shot by a federal agent, should continue to be held in custody.
Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, is accused of leading ICE agents on a 15- to 20-minute chase in Minneapolis before fleeing on foot into an apartment building where the other defendant, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, was standing, according to a court affidavit.
Both men are accused of hitting an agent with a broomstick in the ensuing struggle.The agent also said he believed a third, unidentified person struck him with a snow shovel, according to the affidavit.
At the Wednesday hearing, which lasted about 40 minutes, US Magistrate Judge Doug Micko found enough probable cause in the case to proceed to trial, according to CNN affiliate KARE.
Judge Micko initially ordered the men released on personal recognizance with conditions. Federal prosecutors swiftly voiced their objection and made clear they plan to appeal. Judge Micko paused their release pending appeal, the court docket shows.
The two men will remain in federal custody pending the outcome of the stay.
Aljorna’s defense attorney, Frederick Goetz, confirmed to CNN that Judge Micko granted a conditional release. CNN has reached out to Sosa-Celis’ attorney but has not heard back.
At the hearing, an FBI agent testified the ICE officer said Sosa-Celis hit the agent with a broom and the ICE agent suffered a gash to his hand, according to KARE.
The FBI agent also said the agent fired his weapon during the struggle, striking Sosa-Celis in his thigh, according to KARE.
Defense attorneys questioned why the government has not produced any evidence related to the shooting other than the statements made by agents, according to KARE.
Government attorneys said they plan to appeal the decision by Judge Micko granting a personal recognizance bond while the stay allowing the men to remain in custody is in place.
The government has until 12 p.m. Thursday to file an appeal in the case.
Students in St. Paul who "don't feel comfortable" going to school can attend online classes
Saint Paul Public Schools will offer a temporary online learning option for all students starting tomorrow as ICE activity in the area continues.
“Over the past several days, I’ve received hundreds of messages about offering a temporary learning option for students who do not feel comfortable coming to school right now,” said Stacie Stanley, the school district’s superintendent, in a video message to families.
The virtual option is being offered “for safety reasons.” It is unclear how long the e-learning option will be available to students.
Saint Paul Public Schools is Minnesota’s second-largest school district and is comprised of 69 schools and more than 33,000 students. It is one of state’s “most diverse” districts, according to its website.
ICE launches immigration enforcement campaign in Maine
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a new enforcement operation in Maine, a state that is home to a sizable Somali population, after Minnesota’s Somali population has been targeted in recent enforcement.
The campaign, dubbed “Operation Catch of the Day” by the agency, officially launched yesterday, it said.
“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,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills acknowledged the potential operation was coming in a statement last week, saying the agency’s “tactics are not welcome here.” CNN has reached out to the governor for comment.
US Sen. Angus King denounced the operation Wednesday, along with several other actions by President Donald Trump, and said he plans to “curtail the budget of ICE until such time that they respect our Constitutionally-guaranteed rights (and take off the masks).”
Appeals court freezes order that put guardrails on federal agents interacting with protesters in Minnesota
A federal appeals court has frozen a judge’s order that put guardrails on how federal agents can operate around peaceful protesters in Minnesota.
The administrative stay by the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals is intended to give the court more time to consider whether to indefinitely pause the order issued Friday by a federal judge in Minneapolis.
The Trump administration Tuesday asked the appeals court to shelve the ruling from US District Judge Katherine Menendez, arguing it was a judicial overreach replete with “vague terms that (Department of Homeland Security) officers must interpret and apply in dynamic and dangerous law-enforcement situations under penalty of contempt.”
Menendez’s ruling, Justice Department lawyers told the Eighth Circuit, “harms DHS officers’ ability to protect themselves and the public in very dangerous circumstances.”
“By limiting how DHS officers may respond to violent, dangerous, and obstructive conduct and subjecting DHS officers to contempt proceedings for their efforts to protect themselves and others, the injunction places DHS officers and the public in harm’s way,” DOJ lawyers said.
Under the preliminary injunction issued by Menendez, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, federal agents working in Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota were not allowed to arrest peaceful protesters or stop people in their cars without cause, among other things.
Her order said federal agents cannot do the following to peaceful protesters: retaliate, arrest or detain them, or use pepper spray or other nonlethal munitions. Menendez also said they can no longer stop and detain drivers when there is “no reasonable articulable suspicion” they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with federal agents’ operations.
“The act of safely following” the officers “at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” the judge wrote in her lengthy decision.
The order was meant to be in effect until the operation ends or when “conditions change such that it is no longer necessary.” It applied in Minnesota and only to agents involved in the current operation, and did not apply to other federal officers handling routine duties elsewhere.
Taylor Romine contributed.
Vance to meet with ICE agents in Minneapolis Thursday
Vice President JD Vance is planning to travel Minneapolis on Thursday where he will meet with ICE agents and give remarks defending their immigration operations, White House officials told CNN.
Vance’s visit comes days after the Justice Department subpoenaed several high-profile Minnesota officials, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Attorney General Keith Ellison, as part of an investigation into whether the state and local leaders obstructed federal immigration enforcement efforts.
The trip, which is scheduled to follow the vice president’s visit to Toledo, Ohio, earlier Thursday, also comes as heightened tension roil the city, with continued protests following the fatal shooting of Renee Good earlier this month by an ICE agent.
Vance has repeatedly defended the ICE agent following Good’s death and argued that the shooting was a result of “radical left-wing” violence in response to the administration’s immigration policies.
“The Vice President will highlight the Administration’s commitment to restoring law and order in Minneapolis,” a White House official told CNN about the trip, adding that Vance “will point out how Minneapolis’s sanctuary city policies have degraded public safety and endangered ICE officers. He will also celebrate the essential work ICE agents have done to take dangerous, criminal illegal aliens off of America’s streets.”
Vance is also expected to address recent fraud allegations against Somali-run childcare centers in Minnesota, which spurred the ramped-up presence of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI in the state.
Vance also recently announced a new assistant attorney general position to investigate fraud and abuse of tax-payer funded programs in Minnesota and other states, something he is also expected to focus on during his trip.
“Democrat officials in Minnesota have willfully neglected largescale fraud and undermined federal immigration authorities in their investigations of criminal wrongdoing,” a White House official said.
