DULUTH, Minn. – The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is too busy arresting immigrants to respond to news media queries s about its massive Trump round-ups. This includes several arrests at a Duluth roofing project last week. ICE has been silent on how many persons were arrested, their names, and where they were taken. Nationwide in mid-February the agency clamed 20,000 arrests since President Trump took office. News reporters, however, have been scratching their heads how ICE could have national data if regional offices don’t. It is known that the regional headquarters at Fort Snelling, whose jurisdiction includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas, has orchestrated dozens of arrests. Some have already come before immigration judges at Minnesota’s Fort Snelling with some excused for what in effect has been false arrest. This suggests embarrassingly sloppy if not reckless policing procedures.
ICE at Fort Snelling. In the seven-story Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. Whipple (1822-1901) was the first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota.
Verbatim
ICE in a boilerplate responses to media inquiries from its regional headquarters: “Since January 20 ICE has significantly increased its immigration enforcement activities with additional support from other federal law enforcement and Department of Defense]partners. In an effort to keep the American people informed about the results of our efforts with only the most accurate information, ICE is compiling and validating the data and is working toward publishing our enforcement status on a monthly basis. Currently statistics are three months in arrears and published on a quarterly basis.”