The Department of Homeland Security has surged federal law enforcement personnel into Minneapolis amid what officials describe as a sharp escalation in violence against officers operating in the city, which has been designated a sanctuary jurisdiction, according to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
McLaughlin said the deployment was necessary because sanctuary policies in Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota restrict cooperation between federal agents and local law enforcement, leaving DHS officers exposed while carrying out immigration enforcement operations.
“So what’s happening with Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota is it is a sanctuary city, so DHS law enforcement, we’re not allowed to engage with their local law enforcement,” McLaughlin said.
“We’re not allowed in their jails, and local law enforcement are not allowed to respond to backup to our officers.”
According to McLaughlin, those restrictions have coincided with what she described as a coordinated campaign of violence against federal officers.
“So what we’ve been seeing is a highly coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement officers,” she said.
“Just last week alone, there were 10 vehicle rammings. That’s a deadly weapon used against our law enforcement we’ve seen 1,000% increase in assaults against them.”
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McLaughlin said the surge in DHS personnel is intended to allow officers to continue enforcement operations while protecting both law enforcement and the public.
“So Chris, why it’s really important that we surge law enforcement is so that our law enforcement officers are still able to conduct their operations,” she said.
“They’re still able to go after these criminal legal aliens and get them off the streets, but in order to do so, they need to be able to conduct their operations in a safe way, safe for the law enforcement officers themselves, safe for the public and safe for the protesters as well.”
She said additional officers are being deployed specifically to protect agents already working in the city.
“So what we’ve been doing is bringing these law enforcement officers to protect these law enforcement as they’re conducting their operations,” McLaughlin said.
“That’s the reason for the surge.”
McLaughlin said the underlying reason DHS is operating in Minneapolis stems from broader criminal activity identified through federal investigations.
“But Chris, if I may, I want to back up and say, Why are we in Minneapolis to begin with?” she said.
“It’s because we’ve seen through our Homeland Security Investigations, rampant fraud. We’ve seen rampant criminal legal alien activity.”
She said DHS has made thousands of arrests in recent weeks, including individuals accused of serious crimes.
“We’ve arrested more than 2000 criminal legal aliens in the last just five weeks alone,” McLaughlin said.
“In Minneapolis, when Secretary Noem was there, just last week, we arrested a murder from Ecuador, multiple child pedophiles, a kidnapper, someone who was a perpetuate of domestic violence. These are the people we’re going after.”
In a separate statement, McLaughlin addressed concerns over enforcement authorities and arrests during recent protests and unrest.
She said DHS operations are conducted under existing federal law and constitutional protections.
“We’re using our title eight authorities, and we are using reasonable suspicion, protected from the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution,” she said.
“If there are arrests of US citizens, it’s because they are impeding or obstructing our law enforcement or laying their hands on them.”
McLaughlin said federal officers have repeatedly faced violence during protests and riots, which she described as organized and escalating.
“We obviously saw that time and time again over the weekend, a number of these riots and protests, we’ve seen this highly coordinated campaign,” she said.
She cited further increases in the use of vehicles as weapons against officers.
“I mentioned those vehicle rammings before,” McLaughlin said.
“Those vehicle rammings, where these individuals are weaponizing a vehicle, ramming them into our law enforcement officers or their vehicles, is up 3,200% it is getting out of control.”
McLaughlin also pointed to a dramatic rise in threats targeting officers and their families.
“The fact that our law enforcement officers, who are simply enforcing the rule of law on the books of Congress, are facing an 8,000% increase in death threats against them, their children, where they go to school, where their spouse is where they work, is being doxxed,” she said.
She said violence and threats against law enforcement should not be viewed through a partisan lens.
“That should not be a partisan issue, that law enforcement should be off the table when it comes to death threats and when it comes to assault,” McLaughlin said.
“I think every American should be able to come together on that very issue.”
