Two days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers in Minnesota reportedly tackled a house caregiver from sub-Saharan Africa to the snowy pavement and took her away in a van, an in depth pal made the 1,400-mile journey to a controversial Texas detention facility the place she’s being held.
“She was so surprised to see me,” mentioned her pal, Justin, a 40-year-old residence caregiver who requested his full title not be used for concern of retaliation. “She never believed that anybody knew where she was.”
She isn’t alone.
Dozens of asylum seekers like her, in addition to refugees who handed a rigorous, years-long vetting course of earlier than being admitted to the United States, have been arrested in Minnesota in latest weeks, immigration attorneys and advocates say.
The immigrants are shackled and positioned on flights to detention services in Texas, the place they’re compelled to recount painful asylum claims with restricted or no contact with relations or attorneys, attorneys and advocates say. Some, after days of interviews with officers, have been launched in Texas with out cash, identification or telephones. Others stay detained with out details about why they’re being held.
“It really is a campaign of terror. It is designed to scare people,” mentioned Laurie Ball Cooper, vp for US authorized applications on the International Refugee Assistance Project. “I know there have been many tales of disorganization. I’m not sure this is one.”
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, acknowledged Thursday the immigration enforcement effort in Minnesota wanted to be “fixed” and mentioned his crew was engaged on a drawdown plan whereas sharpening the main target of operations on undocumented immigrants with prison data.
Deployed by the administration to Minneapolis to handle ICE operations in the wake of Alex Pretti’s fatal shooting, Homan mentioned not “everything that’s been done here has been perfect” and that “certain improvements can and should be made.”
The refugees come from international locations resembling Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Syria, El Salvador, Venezuela and Russia, Ball Cooper mentioned. They entered the US legally however can not apply for everlasting standing till a 12 months after they’ve been admitted to the nation, as required beneath US regulation. Ball Cooper and different advocates have been in contact with a few of these refugees, who they are saying haven’t been charged with crimes or immigration violations that would depart them open to removing proceedings.
“I am aware of cases where the person was arrested, detained in Minnesota and put on a plane (to Texas) in 90 minutes or less,” Ball Cooper informed NCS, including that attorneys and advocates in Minnesota and Texas have been left scrambling to join with lots of the refugees.
Late Wednesday, a federal decide issued a short lived restraining order stopping the Trump administration from arresting or detaining resettled refugees in Minnesota whereas a class-action lawsuit difficult the apply performs out. The decide additionally ordered the fast launch of all detained refugees in Minnesota, in addition to the discharge of these taken out of the state inside 5 days and gave the federal government 48 hours to present an inventory of detained refugees.
“Refugees have a legal right to be in the United States, a right to work, a right to live peacefully — and importantly, a right not to be subjected to the terror of being arrested and detained without warrants or cause in their homes or on their way to religious services or to buy groceries,” US District Judge for the District of Minnesota John Tunheim wrote in his opinion.
“At its best, America serves as a haven of individual liberties in a world too often full of tyranny and cruelty. We abandon that ideal when we subject our neighbors to fear and chaos,” Tunheim wrote.
A handful of refugees in the case are represented by the International Refugee Assistance Project and different authorized and advocacy organizations. The go well with and attorneys for the plaintiffs accuse federal officers of “hunting down” resettled refugees door-to-door and transferring them to services in Texas.
“It’s a fishing expedition,” Ball Cooper mentioned of the administration’s focusing on of refugees, together with youngsters and the aged. “The government’s effort here is arrest first, investigate later.”
NCS reached out to US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for remark however has not acquired a response.
“I fled my home country because I was facing government repression,” a plaintiff recognized as D. Doe mentioned in an announcement, noting he was flown to Texas in shackles and handcuffs after he was arrested at his residence earlier this month. “I can’t believe it’s happening again here. It’s chilling and I’m scared.”
The plaintiff, who the lawsuit mentioned has lived in the US along with his spouse and son since being admitted as a refugee in 2024, was abruptly detained January 11. His spouse, with their 3-year-old in her arms, ran outdoors along with his paperwork as brokers took him away, the go well with mentioned. Once in Texas, he was saved in chains for 16 hours and interrogated about his refugee utility earlier than being launched with out paperwork from a detention middle in Houston, the lawsuit mentioned.
Jocelyn Wyatt, CEO of the Minneapolis-based humanitarian group Alight, mentioned refugee advocates have discovered of no less than 100 individuals detained in Minnesota and flown to Texas — together with El Paso, Houston and San Antonio — for questioning and reprocessing. In some circumstances, they’ve been launched with out paperwork, primarily stranded in Texas, with some managing to contact employees at resettlement businesses that beforehand assisted them, Wyatt mentioned.
“It’s hard to get an accurate count on this,” she mentioned. “The whole cycle is happening very quickly.”
Panic is spreading in immigrant communities.
“There are thousands of people that are basically sort of held captive or living as prisoners in their own homes right now, unable to leave because of fear of arrest and detention,” Wyatt mentioned. “They’re not going to doctor’s appointments … kids aren’t going to school right now. Parents and adults are not working. They’re not able to go out for groceries.”
Tension and concern on the streets of Minneapolis have solely elevated since US Customs and Border Protection officers fatally shot Pretti, the second killing of a US citizen by immigration brokers this month, after Renee Good.
During vetting by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, refugees are required to present they were persecuted or face persecution in their residence international locations and, as soon as in the US, should apply for inexperienced playing cards a 12 months after admission.
“There is a unique element to this happening to a refugee,” Ball Cooper mentioned. “This is already a person or a family who has been through persecution.”
Trump officers have lengthy focused and scrutinized the refugee admissions program, which has traditionally had bipartisan help, and argued the earlier administration didn’t sufficiently vet the individuals who entered the US. Trump has largely halted refugee admissions, with the slim exception of White South Africans. Late final 12 months, the administration moved to reinterview sure refugees who were admitted to the US beneath former President Joe Biden as a part of a complete evaluate.
The variety of arrests started to decide up in Minnesota earlier this month, when the administration initiated a “sweeping initiative” to reexamine refugees in Minnesota — with an preliminary focus of 5,600 individuals — unleashing bands of brokers on the streets to bang on doorways, observe vehicles and present up at workplaces and faculties, sending a wave of panic amongst refugees and different immigrants throughout the state, advocates mentioned.
Amiin Harun, an lawyer in Minneapolis, mentioned he’s accustomed to no less than seven circumstances of asylum seekers or refugees arrested in the Twin Cities in latest weeks and swiftly transferred to Texas. One case his workplace is dealing with includes a refugee who was pulled over in visitors and detained by ICE officers quickly after leaving residence. The arrest occurred about two weeks in the past at 9:20 a.m., Harun mentioned. By 1 p.m., the person, who’s married with two younger youngsters, was already on a flight to Texas.
The subsequent day, Harun mentioned, he acquired a name from an immigration officer saying they wished to query his consumer for about 4 hours, although he had no pending purposes with the federal government.
“I haven’t heard from my client since, but I instructed him to be careful,” Harun mentioned. “You don’t have any legal obligation to answer their questions. So, keep quiet.”
None of the detained refugees represented in the lawsuit have been charged with a criminal offense or immigration violation, the go well with and advocates say. The “baseless detentions and coercive interviews” were meant to “trigger a mass termination of refugee status” and depart refugees susceptible to deportation, the go well with mentioned.
Sara Nelson, program supervisor for the Center for Victims of Torture, a nonprofit that gives psychological well being care and social work companies in Minnesota, mentioned 5 shoppers — asylum seekers with work permits — were detained by ICE and despatched to Texas. One has been returned to Minnesota however continues to be in custody.
“The clients expressed fear and said that no one seems able to help them,” Nelson mentioned. “One of them has a significant medical condition and requires daily medication and upcoming surgery — she reports that she has not been given her medication, and we have tried submitting a doctor’s note about her medical needs multiple times with no response … It is truly horrifying how many people are languishing in these facilities, alone and scared.”
“The fear is that the cases will just get administratively canceled and they’ll get deported without having their day in court or without due process,” she added.
If deported, the refugees will possible turn out to be much more of a goal for fleeing in the primary place, Nelson mentioned.
“People are going to die, to be totally frank,” she mentioned.
Justin, a naturalized US citizen from sub-Saharan Africa, mentioned he flew to Texas twice from Minnesota in the week after his pal was detained January 9 and transferred to Camp East Montana in El Paso — the place no less than three detainees died whereas in ICE custody in latest weeks, together with one whereas receiving remedy at a close-by hospital.
After pleading with officers on the detention facility, Justin mentioned, he was allowed to see his pal. They were separated by a display screen throughout a one-hour assembly.
“She didn’t look well,” he mentioned. “She was pale. She said she hadn’t slept. She was exhausted. She was barely talking. I had to get close to the screen to hear her. All she could tell me was, ‘Please get me out of here.’”
Justin recalled the concern he felt every time he approached the doorway to the detention facility.
“I was scared for myself when going there. My heart was beating like I was having high blood pressure,” he mentioned. “Because she told me there are US citizens inside. I had my US passport with me. Unbelievable. That’s my first time carrying my passport in the United States.”