Noem sending 'hundreds more' federal agents to MN
By: Christopher Cann
USA Today
..... Hundreds more federal agents are being sent into Minnesota, officials said, as the furor continues over the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offer.
.....
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the surge in a January 11 [2026] interview on Fox News' Sunday Morning Features."
..... "We're sending more officers today [01/11/2026] and tomorrow," [01/12/2026] Noem said. "they'll arrive, there'll be hundreds more in order to allow our ICE and our border Patrol individuals that are working in Minneapolis to do so safely."
..... federal authorities first begun sending agents to Minneapolis as part of"Operation Metro Surge" on December 1. [2025] During the first week of January, [2026] the Department of Homeland Security announced a surge of 2,000 agents into Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the administration's deportation efforts and to investigate fraud in Medicaid-backed programs in the state.
..... Federal to the Twin Cities called it the "largest immigration operation ever." Officials have not said how long it would last. The Department of Homeland Security said in the first week of January [2026] that it had arrested 1,500 undocumented immigrants since it launched the Minneapolis surge.
..... The January 7 [2026] shooting of Renee Nicole Good, which was caught on video, immediately sparked nationwide protests and backlash against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement. It has deepened divisions between federal and state authorities as the federal government claims the agent acted in self-defense and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other say he acted recklessly.
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Footage shows multiple agents approaching Good's SUV, which is stopped in the middle of a street. One officer attempts to open the driver's side door as someone is heard yelling. "Get out of the [expletive] car." Good briefly reverses before driving forward, beginning to turn right, away form the agents. As the vehicle begins to move forward, another officer standing near the front driver's side draw his gun and fires three times at close range.
..... Over
the weekend. [01/10-11/2026] thousands turned out for protest in Minneapolis. While most remained peaceful, occasional flare-ups saw federal agents deploy pepper spray and tear gas. Videos also show federal agents, including Border Patrol officers, making immigration-related arrests.
..... Noem in several interviews on January 11 [2026] defended the ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, and accused Good of "domestic terrorism." Video analysis by USA today shows Good's vehicle appeared to be turning away from the officer who fired on her. The Medicaid fraud investigation were launched after President Donald Trump seized on cases in Minneapolis, calling out Walz and going after the state's Somali community. Since 2022, federal prosecutors have charged more than 80 people in the fraud schemes, many of them U.S. citizens of Somali descent.