Walz presses Noem for information about number of federal agents still in Minnesota

Gov. Tim Walz is pressing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for information about how many federal agents remain in Minnesota.

According to the governor's office, Walz has sent two letters to Noem in as many months. The most recent, sent on Monday, asked her office to "provide weekly updates on the number of federal law enforcement agents in Minnesota until the federal agents return to pre-Metro Surge numbers and the whereabouts of all detained children are fully accounted for and returned to Minnesota."

The governor said Monday that federal immigration officers are still present in "huge numbers" in Minnesota, "at least triple the number pre-Metro Surge."

Sam Olson, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office director with the St. Paul field office, said in a sworn declaration late last month that approximately 107 Enforcement and Removal Operations Agents would remain in the Twin Cities metro by Thursday, Feb. 26. There were more than 4,000 federal agents in Minnesota during the height of the ICE surge.

Walz, in a letter to Noem on Feb. 3, asked her to provide "detailed information," including health status, about children and other individuals detained or arrested by federal agents in Minnesota who were being held in detention facilities. He said Monday that he has not received a response to February's letter.

The governor's office said it has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking "official documents" related to Operation Metro Surge, Operation Parris and the detention of children in Minnesota.

"Families deserve to know where their kids are. Communities deserve transparency," Walz said in a written statement. "The continued refusal to provide answers is unacceptable, and I will not stop demanding accountability and transparency until every child is accounted for and returned home."

WCCO has reached out to Homeland Security for comment.

The Columbia Heights Public School District in January said four students from its district were taken by ICE agents, including 5-year-old Liam Ramos.

Ramos and his father were taken while in their driveway after arriving home from his preschool classroom. Both were released from federal custody on Feb. 1, a day after a court order mandated their release.

Elizabeth Zuna, another Columbia Heights student detained by immigration officers in January, was in the process of being released from federal custody in early February, according to Superintendent Zena Stenvik.