Trump Ignores the Online Noise, Makes Big Change in Minnesota Immigration Operation

RedState 

President Donald Trump is shifting gears in Minnesota. White House Border Czar Tom Homan, who had previously not been involved in that area, is being sent to lead the operation, and notably, he will report directly to the president, not DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. 

That decision dovetails with a report from Fox News' Bill Melugin on Sunday evening, where over half a dozen immigration agents expressed frustration with the way DHS was handling things, specifically regarding how they messaged the recent shooting of anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti. 

For context, here was what Melugin reported. 

To summarize, the agents actually risking their lives on the streets didn't feel as if the messaging out of DHS was helping their situation, or worse, was actually making things more dangerous and less effective. Specifically, they noted the rush by Noem and Border Patrol official Greg Bovino to describe Pretti as a "domestic terrorist" who was carrying a gun to cause "maximum damage" and commit a massacre. 

Whatever you think about the shooting of Pretti, there is no evidence, and plenty of counter evidence, to the idea that he was there on a mission to murder CBP officers. If that were his plan, he had ample opportunity to draw his weapon and fire long before he ended up pepper-sprayed on the ground. When the physical aspect of the confrontation began, he was being pulled backwards off the ground for detainment, not attempting to draw his weapon to shoot anyone. 

That's not a commentary on whether the eventual shooting by the CBP will be found justified or not. Someone can both acknowledge that Pretti appeared to be concealed carrying without intent to use his gun, and that his resisting of arrest in the final seconds led to a chaotic situation where officers may have had a legitimate reason to believe he was a threat. 

Why does it matter how DHS leadership chooses to message the situation? And why does it matter to the agents on the ground? Because the job is already difficult enough, and the tactical considerations in Minneapolis are complicated, to say the least. Maintaining as much credibility with the broader public is an important part of ensuring enforcement can continue without interruption, and just as importantly, be maximally effective without creating any unnecessary issues. 

Trump clearly recognizes that, and he's ignoring the noise from many in the online world to make this change. 

Nowhere in that statement does Trump say he's "surrendering" or backing down. Strategic and tactical considerations, whether that be regarding the operation on the ground or what is presented to the public, do not boil down to simply finding the nearest brick wall and repeatedly running into it. The president, who is smarter on this front than a lot of right-wing influencers who only see this through the prism of engagement, knows he can't lose the battle for the public and win the war on enforcement. 

Sending Homan, whom I've said in the past is a far more credible and effective messenger on immigration enforcement than some others, is a signal that Trump wants to see things tightened up. Some of that will be in how operations are carried out on a day-to-day basis, but I think the bigger concern is ensuring fodder isn't handed to a left-wing that would love nothing more than to parlay all of this into election victories that tie Trump's hands and end this push to enforce immigration laws. 

Hegseth Greenlights Fort Snelling for Minneapolis Migrant Crackdown

RedState 

In what appears to be a significant move, meant to send a message to the city of Minneapolis that the Trump administration isn't about to back down from clearing that city of illegal aliens, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has approved the use of a military base near the Minneapolis airport as a housing, vehicle storage and staging area for ICE and Border Patrol operations. That message? "We are not going away." An email, supposedly from Customs and Border Protection, acquired by the San Francisco Chronicle, has the details.

In what could be a sign of President Donald Trump’s Minnesota immigration siege digging in, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved a request Monday by the Department of Homeland Security to further support its efforts in the Twin Cities.

In an email obtained by the Chronicle, U.S. Customs and Border Protection asked for space at Fort Snelling, a historic decommissioned military base in an unincorporated area next to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, to house federal immigration agents, weapons, vehicles and aircraft.

Fort Snelling is already the site of a U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement field office and a DHS immigration enforcement and detention processing center. CBP will use land on a U.S. Army Reserve base there.

As far as I'm able to ascertain, Fort Snelling is mostly a historical site, meaning that it's not a 'closed' post. No gates, no guards. But it is a federal installation, with some Army Reserve and some ICE and DHS offices already there. It would represent not only a convenient staging area for ICE and Border Patrol operations, but it would also reduce these agencies' dependency on hotels for housing their people. We've already seen trouble from that practice, and even if Fort Snelling isn't secured now, it could be, one would presume, fairly quickly.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has reportedly already approved the use.

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requests support from the Department of War (DoW) to provide existing infrastructure to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a component of DHS, specifically an area for parking approximately 300-500 vehicles and 10 storage trailers, a ready room space for approximal 500-800 CBP personnel, a space to house, maintain and operate five CBP Air Assets, access to a magazine to store munitions, and other necessary facilities to support operations in the Minneapolis, Minnesota metropolitan area,” the email said.

On Monday morning, Hegseth approved the request, according to correspondence obtained by the Chronicle.

As the saying goes, this isn't over.

The useful idiots swarming the streets of Minneapolis are going to have to accommodate themselves to the idea that President Trump and his agents in the field have decided that, when it comes to clearing the Twin Cities of dangerous illegal aliens, the only way out is through. Oh, ICE, DHS, and the Border Patrol can and should leave Minneapolis - when the job is done. Not before. This move appears to be a step in that direction, and remember, there's a new guy on the way to head up this operation, Tom "The Hammer" Homan. 

It won't be easy. Governor Walz, as of this morning, seems to have suddenly decided that maybe he pushed things too far. But don't bet on the angry mobs on the street having any such notion. Just because something's not easy doesn't mean it doesn't need doing, and having a more secure base, close to the action, for people and equipment, that's a good logistical move.

8th Circuit Stays Lower Court Injunction of Federal Immigration Enforcement Operations in MN

RedState 

There are multiple lawsuits ongoing involving the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota (Operation Metro Surge), but the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals just pressed pause on one of them, issuing a stay pending appeal in the case titled Tincher v. Noem.

As Bob Hoge reported, U.S. District Court Judge Kate Menendez issued a preliminary injunction on January 16th, which: 

ordered agents not to retaliate against people “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” or to use pepper spray or other “crowd dispersal tools” in retaliation for protected speech. The judge also said agents could not stop or detain protesters in vehicles who are not “forcibly obstructing or interfering with” agents.

The administration appealed that injunction and sought an administrative stay of it, as well as a stay pending appeal. The 8th Circuit issued an administrative stay on Wednesday and now has issued a formal stay pending appeal. 

The court's ruling is brief (only six pages), and turns on its determination that the District Court's injunction is both too broad and too vague (citations omitted): 

We accessed and viewed the same videos the district court did. What they show is observers and protestors engaging in a wide range of conduct, some of it peaceful but much of it not. They also show federal agents responding in various ways. Even the named plaintiffs’ claims involve different conduct, by different officers, at different times, in different places, in response to different behavior. These differences mean that there are no “questions of law or fact common to the class,” that would allow the court to decide all their claims in “one stroke.” 

Second, in addition to being too broad, the injunction is too vague. Directions not to “[r]etaliat[e] against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity” or “[s]top[] or detain[] drivers . . . where there is no reasonable articulable suspicion” are simply commands to “obey the law,” which are “not specific enough.” 

Even the provision that singles out the use of “pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools” requires federal agents to predict what the district court would consider “peaceful and unobstructive protest activity.” The videos underscore how difficult it would be for them to decide who has crossed the line: they show a fast-changing mix of peaceful and obstructive conduct, with many protestors getting in officers’ faces and blocking their vehicles as they conduct their activities, only for some of them to then rejoin the crowd and intermix with others who were merely recording and observing the scene. A wrong call could end in contempt, yet there is little in the order that constrains the district court’s power to impose it. “[F]ederal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch,” and the structural injunction imposed here, given its breadth and vagueness, is too big a step in that direction.

Of course, this isn't the end of the inquiry. It simply presses pause on the District Court's injunction while the merits of the case are sorted out. We'll continue to follow along and report on any developments as warranted.

Tim Walz Says He Will Do Anything To Keep Minnesota Residents Safe Except Cooperate With Federal Law Enforcement

Babylon Bee🐝 

SAINT PAUL, MN — With tensions between ICE agents and leftist protesters in Minneapolis running high, Governor Tim Walz said he was willing to do anything to keep Minnesota residents safe except cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Walz, the failed vice presidential candidate who will not be seeking re-election as governor, said he would exhaust every potential solution to stop the bloodshed except for working with ICE to enforce immigration laws in Minnesota.

"I'm open to any solution but that one," Walz told reporters. "I am here to serve and protect the residents of the great state of Minnesota and look out for their best interests. That requires me to do absolutely everything in my power to keep them safe, up to — but not including — cooperating with federal law enforcement. That's a bridge too far, I'm afraid."

Clashes between protesters and ICE agents have led to multiple controversial deaths, as leftists expressed outrage that law enforcement officers were daring to enforce laws. Walz stressed the need for de-escalation, despite his unwillingness to uphold the actual law.

"Minnesota is a state that's all about love," he explained when asked if he would order state and local police departments to cooperate with ICE. "And I would do anything for love. Yes, I would do anything for love. I would do anything for love, but I won't do that. No. No, I won't do that."

At publishing time, Walz's office said that the governor had decided to perform a special, heartfelt, flamboyant ribbon dance in an effort to bring peace to the state.