The Department of Homeland Security, under Kristi Noem, along with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has made a new announcement through its director, Todd Lyons. The agency is deploying 2,000 federal agents into Minnesota as it attempts its largest immigration operation to date.
Minnesota has recently been in the news for reasons that do not inspire pride. It began with Nick Shirley, who went viral at the very tail end of 2025 with a documentary shot in a single day that accused child care facilities of committing fraud against the state. Swift action followed when HHS decided to freeze federal funds flowing into the state for child care programs. There was also the fact that it was predominantly Somali immigrants who were accused of fraud, which drew Donald Trump’s personal interest.
Investigations take time. Sometimes not because the crime is questionable, but simply because prosecutors must ensure that accusations and evidence align perfectly. Shirley’s allegations, therefore, may take time to substantiate. The Minnesota governor acknowledged as much when announcing his decision not to run for a third term.
Somali immigrants are now expected to be on high alert as ICE arrives in the Twin Cities later this week. Lyons, the ICE director, announced on Newsmax that agents would be targeting “fraud suspects” and removing immigrants with criminal records.
ICE has recently been accused of using its mandate to arrest individuals based on language, particularly Spanish speakers, and even on ethnic background, especially when operating in areas with large Latino populations. As a result, the prevailing assumption is that the term “fraud suspects” will represent a very wide net cast across the Twin Cities area.
The last major ICE operation took place in the Chicago area. There were multiple reports of dozens of federal agents canvassing neighborhoods, and the operation lasted several months. While the exact number of ICE agents deployed in Illinois varied, images from that operation illustrated the intensity of ICE’s enforcement tactics. The fact that, by the agency’s own internal metrics, the Minnesota operation will be even larger has raised more than a few eyebrows.
David Bier, a renowned immigration studies expert, has already raised doubts about how much Trump will ultimately be able to accomplish. The director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute told Newsweek, “The administration cannot unilaterally revoke anyone’s citizenship. It can initiate proceedings to request that a court revoke citizenship if it can prove that the citizen committed fraud to obtain citizenship, including by lying about a serious criminal offense prior to naturalization. It is not easy, but it is possible.”
The operation is expected to continue over the next few weeks. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin revealed that roughly 1,000 suspects have already been detained by federal agents. Large-scale DHS and ICE operations do not always yield success for the agencies. Just recently, plans to build an almost half-a-billion-dollar detention center in the middle of the Everglades in Florida proved to be a vain endeavor riddled with regret.
ICE’s director has nonetheless justified the Minnesota operation, saying that if successful, it will help the state ward off people he claims are taking advantage of welfare programs, public assistance, and SNAP benefits.
Published: Jan 7, 2026 12:12 pm