Feb 3 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants more help from Minnesota with enforcing federal immigration laws. Minnesota says its state-run prison system has long cooperated with federal immigration agents, to the maximum extent required and allowed by law. So do many sheriff-run county jails.
Trump administration officials have said the deployment of thousands of armed agents into Minnesota’s cities to deport migrants would continue if they do not get more cooperation from state and local officials. The agents have fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who were observing or protesting the surge, sparking angry demonstrations across the country.
Here is where Minnesota cooperates with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, where it does not, and how it says constitutional rights limit giving the Trump administration what it is seeking.
WHAT IS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DEMANDING OF MINNESOTA?
Tom Homan, the White House “border czar” dispatched by Trump in late January to Minnesota, puts it in simple terms: “Let us in the damn jail.” ICE has long sought greater access to migrants in local jails and state prisons across the U.S., including those under a deportation order by the federal government.
When ICE learns that a migrant it is seeking to deport is in state, county or local custody, it often sends over a written “detainer request” form, asking that the jail or prison hold onto the migrant for up to 48 extra hours past when they would have otherwise been released.
HOW DOES MINNESOTA’S PRISON SYSTEM COOPERATE WITH ICE?
Anyone convicted of a serious crime under Minnesota law is almost certain to serve their sentence in the prison system run by the state’s Department of Corrections, which in January created a “Combating DHS Misinformation” section on its website, referring to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under which ICE falls.
The DOC says it has long cooperated with ICE, and abides by state law that requires it to notify ICE each time it takes into custody someone convicted of a felony who is not a U.S. citizen, even if ICE has not yet sent a detainer request. As of early February, there were about 8,000 people in DOC prisons, of whom around 380 were not U.S. citizens, according to the department.
The DOC says it always cooperates with ICE detainer requests, working with ICE agents ahead of the prisoner’s release date at the end of their state custodial sentence to arrange a transfer to federal custody. In 2025, this successfully happened with all 84 state prisoners sought by ICE, the department says.
WHAT ABOUT LOCAL JAILS?
Minnesota’s jails are generally run by elected county sheriffs and house a much more rapidly shifting population than the state prisons: people who have been arrested but not yet charged, people accused of a crime who are being prosecuted but not yet convicted, and people who are serving short sentences for minor crimes, such as drunk-driving or low-value shoplifting.
Some sheriffs cooperate with ICE in a similar manner as the state prison system: sheriffs in seven of Minnesota’s 87 counties have signed formal cooperation agreements with ICE. Others say cooperation can undermine public safety if immigrants who are victims of or witnesses to crimes are afraid to come forward.
The Hennepin County sheriff’s office, which runs Minneapolis’ main jail, used to let ICE agents in to interview people in its custody. That ended in 2018, after the election of a new sheriff with a policy of not cooperating, which has been carried on by the present sheriff, Dawanna Witt, who was elected in 2022.
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY ABOUT ICE’S DETAINER REQUESTS?
Under the U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment, the federal government cannot command state officers to help it enforce federal laws, a violation of state sovereignty. But it can ask the states to volunteer their assistance.
In 2025, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told state prosecutors in an advisory opinion that “Minnesota law prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from holding someone based on an immigration detainer if the person would otherwise be released from custody.”
Detaining someone for up to 48 hours is an arrest like any other, Ellison wrote, and neither Minnesota nor federal law gives local officials the authority to make an arrest based on a request by another agency without a judge-signed arrest warrant.
He cited a 2019 ruling by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Esparza v. Nobles County, that found that a sheriff continuing to detain someone after they were free to go under state law was likely unconstitutional.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
Comments