(The Hill) – Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday announced thousands of arrests in Minneapolis, Minn., as part of the administration’s ongoing crackdown on immigration.
“PEACE AND PUBLIC SAFETY IN MINNEAPOLIS! We have arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis,” Noem wrote on the social platform X, including 3,000 arrested in the last six weeks.
A DHS release shared some of the names of those arrested, though additional details about the nature of the arrests weren’t included.
However, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the nonprofit American Immigration Council, raised doubt about Noem’s Monday announcement in a response on X, suggesting the Minneapolis arrest figures could be “HIGHLY inflated.”
“These numbers VERY likely false. Do not trust them unless independently verified,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote.
Minneapolis has become a major focus of the national fight over immigration after an ICE officer fatally shot Minnesota woman Renee Good, sparking protests across the country.
Administration officials have defended the ICE officer, alleging Good was impeding law enforcement. Noem has labeled Good’s actions during the incident as “domestic terrorism.”
A week later, a federal officer shot and injured a Venezuelan migrant during a separate scuffle in Minneapolis, further inflaming tensions.
Thousands of ICE officers are in the North Star State as part of Trump’s pledge for mass deportations, even as his immigration crackdown faces growing disapproval from voters.
A New York Times analysis this week estimated that the Trump administration has so far deported 230,000 people arrested inside the country, higher than the total number across former President Biden’s term. Another 270,000 were arrested and deported at the border, and 40,000 signed up to “self-deport.”
In the X post, Noem also said that Homeland Security investigators were on the ground in Minneapolis amid an ongoing fraud scandal in the state.
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