Hundreds gathered in Minneapolis for the annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives march. Meanwhile, debate continues over what happens — and happened — in Minnesota as Operation Metro Surge winds down.
Transcript
With statewide headlines from the weekend, I’m Xan Holston.
--ELEVENTH ANNUAL MMIR MARCH--
[NAT: Mobile drum circle leading the march]
[FADE AND RUN UNDERNEATH NARRATION]
Hundreds gathered in South Minneapolis on Saturday for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives — or MMIR — march.
Every February 14, communities across the state hold ceremonies, marches and public memorials to raise visibility around the crisis.
Before marching, families and community members met at the Minneapolis American Indian Center to share stories of loved ones, grieve together and call for stronger protections and accountability.
State data shows Indigenous people make up about one percent of Minnesota’s population, but Indigenous women and girls account for roughly eight percent of female homicide victims in the state.
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Chief Executive Virgil Wind said it’s important for the community to come together.
[VIRGIL WIND: It’s special today because of everything else that’s been going on, and really the courage of our Indigenous relatives to come back together and make sure that we’re supporting one another during these troubling times.]
The march comes as Minnesota’s MMIR office expands its “Speak Their Name” campaign — a statewide effort placing billboards with photos of missing relatives to keep cases visible and generate new leads in investigations.
--HOMAN AND COMMUNITY REACTION--
Yesterday, on the CBS show Face the Nation, President Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan claimed more than 1,000 agents had already left the state and that hundreds more would leave today and tomorrow.
Homan’s statements came three days after he officially announced the end of Operation Metro Surge. That same day, however, Homan said ICE would keep hundreds of agents in the state and continue mass deportations.
But while state and local leaders — in politics and law enforcement — are calling the drawdown a win, others aren’t as convinced.
[EDWIN TORRES DE SANTIAGO: Ending this operation — and it's naive to say that it's ending — because just this morning, there were operations in Shakopee.]
Edwin Torres de Santiago is an organizer with the Immigrant Defense Network, a statewide coalition of immigrants’ rights organizations. He says that even if Metro Surge is over, the damage it did can’t be calculated.
[EDWIN TORRES DE SANTIAGO: From a network perspective, this was not just traumatic, but it devastated our communities. Dozens of small businesses have closed. Millions drained from our local economies, thousands of families still living in fear.]
De Santiago questions the legality of ICE’s tactics and demands justice for families grieving in the wake of the operation.
[EDWIN TORRES DE SANTIAGO: […] That’s why we're calling for a full, transparent investigation into the enforcement practices, the use of force, the surveillance and the civil rights violations.]
--KAXE SHERIFFS--
Even as federal agents begin withdrawing, new questions are emerging about how they operated — and continue to operate — while here.
Federal immigration agents working in the Brainerd area appear to have used duplicate or expired license plates on unmarked vehicles — a practice Minnesota officials say violates state law.
AMPERS member station KAXE reports it spotted two vehicles with identical plates parked side by side in Baxter last week. One of those vehicles was later seen parked near the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office.
Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang says ICE agents were operating out of his office and acting in an official capacity — though he acknowledged the use of the plates wasn’t the right approach.
[ERIC KLANG: That’s not the right way to do it, but because things were happening so fast, I suppose they just grabbed some plates that they got from — I don’t know, maybe they got them from us. I don’t even know.]
In late December, state public safety officials warned the Department of Homeland Security that swapping and reusing plates is illegal — even for undercover vehicles.
State officials said continuing to swap plates would put an undercover vehicle program between state and federal agencies at risk.
Klang said his office isn’t carrying out immigration enforcement, but it does work closely with ICE — housing detainees in the county jail and helping hold people for immigration agents so they can be transferred into federal custody.
[ERIC KLANG: […] From my perspective, things have been great. We have a great relationship with the feds.]
--HENNEPIN COUNTY SHERIFF--
Not all law enforcement agencies in the state have coordinated the same way.
On Friday, Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt expressed relief that Operation Metro Surge is over — but also said it has eroded trust in her office.
[DAWANNA WITT: Relationships have been strained, not only by the operation itself, but by misinformation, rumors, confusion about the roles and what this office played during Metro Surge.]
While some counties — like Crow Wing — have signed formal agreements with ICE, others limit involvement out of concern it could damage trust with immigrant communities or interfere with local prosecutions.
Witt says Hennepin County does not hold people for immigration pickup beyond their scheduled release, and deputies do not take part in civil immigration enforcement.
[DAWANNA WITT: […] We have not entered into any new agreements with the federal government, despite what some influential leaders have conveyed. Let me add, and they didn't call to ask me either.]
Witt also said Hennepin County did not change any of its policies regarding ICE to bring an end to the operation.
--FINGER INDICTMENT--
A federal grand jury indicted a St. Paul woman on an assault charge tied to clashes with federal officers after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Prosecutors say she bit off part of a federal agent’s finger while officers were trying to secure the area.
A second woman has also been charged with assault — also for allegedly biting an agent’s finger.
For North Star Stories, I’m Xan Holston.