US Politics
FBI asks agents across US to travel to Minneapolis for temporary duty
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The FBI is asking agents across the United States to travel to Minneapolis for temporary duty as protests against the Trump administration’s federal law enforcement surge have erupted after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
The FBI has sent messages to agents across the country requesting volunteers to temporarily transfer to the city, people with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg News.
The request did not specifically reference anti-ICE protests that have escalated in the city since Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot dead in her car by an ICE agent on January 7.
Details about the assignment, including what the extra agents would be doing in the city, were not known. The FBI declined to comment to The Independent.
As protests swell in the weeks since Good’s killing, several thousand more ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents have been sent to Minneapolis.
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Roughly 1,500 active-duty soldiers are also reportedly preparing for possible deployments to the state as Donald Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act to use U.S. military force against civilians.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he “never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government.”
“They’ve got 3,000 or so ICE agents and Border Patrol. That they are now talking about deploying 1,500 military – this is, well it’s ridiculous,” Frey told CNN Sunday.
Trump and administration officials have defended the ICE officer’s actions and claimed his life was at risk, while Democratic officials and law enforcement analysts have disputed the federal government’s account.
“This act was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis. Here’s the thing. We are not going to be intimidated,” Frey said Sunday.
“The best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents and in this case, military, to Minneapolis,” he added.
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Minnesota has been the target of amplified immigration enforcement since the start of the year after the administration seized on an alleged fraud ring involving daycares operated by Somali-Americans. The Twin Cities are home to roughly 80,000 people of Somali ancestry, the vast majority of whom are legal residents or American citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security claims more than 2,500 people have been arrested.
Trump responded to the continuing protests and resistance from Minnesota officials, who have sued to stop the federal law enforcement surge, in a post on Truth Social Sunday.
“ICE is removing some of the most violent criminals in the World from our Country, and bring them back home, where they belong. Why is Minnesota fighting this? Do they really want murderers and drug dealers to be ensconced in their community?” he wrote. “The thugs that are protesting include many highly paid professional agitators and anarchists. Is this really what Minnesota wants?”