A week and a half after a fatal shooting by federal immigration agents in Minnesota, Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell says talks with the federal government have occurred but concrete plans to reduce the federal presence remain unclear. Schnell told CBS News he has been in contact with federal officials — including people who report to White House border czar Tom Homan — yet the timeline and specifics of any drawdown are still “sketchy,” and there are no signs the large deployment is being scaled back.
Tom Homan has said he is preparing to reduce the thousands of ICE and Border Patrol agents in the Minneapolis area, but he has not given a firm timetable. Schnell added he remains deeply concerned about reported tactics used during the surge, such as agents appearing at bus stops and entering apartment buildings without a clear, targeted list of suspects. Schnell said Minnesota wants focused operations aimed at people who pose a public-safety risk, not what he described as roving checks of residents’ immigration status.
The deployment, called Operation Metro Surge, began in early December and has led to more than 3,000 arrests. It has drawn heavy criticism from state and local officials, especially after the Jan. 24 shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer. Weeks earlier, ICE shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Those incidents intensified scrutiny of the federal sweep and prompted calls for greater transparency and accountability.
Federal leaders have pressed Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis for more cooperation in turning over people federal agents say are in the country illegally. Homan has suggested that the timing of any drawdown could hinge on that cooperation. Central to the dispute are ICE detainers: administrative requests asking jails and prisons to notify federal agents before a person is released and sometimes asking facilities to hold someone briefly. Detainers are not judge-signed warrants, so states like Minnesota treat them cautiously because holding someone past their court-ordered release can raise constitutional and liability concerns.
Schnell said a state review found 380 non-U.S. citizens currently in Minnesota custody. Of those, 270 had active ICE detainers; 110 did not, even though state authorities say they notified the Department of Homeland Security about them. Schnell said the federal government often did not issue detainers for people the state identified, undercutting claims that Minnesota is blocking federal access to its prisons. In his view, coordinated targeting and communication between state and federal officials would make more sense than the current approach.
Minnesota has also firmly rejected requests to let federal agents take custody of people before state sentences are completed. Schnell emphasized the state cannot and will not release people early from state sentences to satisfy federal custody requests, noting Minnesota has obligations to victims and to uphold state court judgments. The state’s position is that ICE can assume custody only after state sentences end.
Schnell outlined two central demands for the federal government. First, Gov. Tim Walz has asked for a dramatic and sizable reduction in federal personnel, arguing the scale of the deployment is unjustified by the population potentially subject to removal. A week after requesting a plan, state officials say they still have no clear drawdown details. Homan has said federal officials are working on a plan and suggested it depends on access to jails; he has told reporters he intends to remain until he believes the problem is resolved.
Second, Minnesota is demanding a credible, transparent joint investigation into the deaths of Pretti and Good, with state access to evidence in both cases. State leaders have alleged the federal government has blocked access to material connected to the shootings. The FBI recently took the lead in the Pretti investigation, and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is also looking into the incident. Schnell said the lack of detail and full cooperation from federal authorities has been a persistent problem and left state officials unconvinced that investigations are adequate to date.
Schnell and local law enforcement officials have warned of collateral public-safety harms from the surge: criminals could exploit the chaos, immigrant communities may grow fearful of cooperating with police, and normal policing could be disrupted. More broadly, the deployment risks eroding trust in government. Schnell praised Minnesota officers for trying to manage a fraught situation while avoiding explosive confrontations but said rebuilding trust will take time. He urged professional, constitutional policing and accountability from all levels of government, warning that misinformation and secrecy only deepen mistrust.