DHS says Minneapolis policies led to release of noncitizen charged in fatal 2024 crash

An ICE detainer (also called an “immigration detainer”) is a written request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to a jail, prison, or police agency asking them to:

1. Notify ICE before they release a person ICE believes is deportable; and
2. Hold that person for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would otherwise be released, so ICE can come take custody.

Under ICE’s own regulation (8 C.F.R. §287.7) and policy, detainers are requests, not commands—they “do not impose any obligations on law enforcement agencies.” Multiple federal courts and legal analyses have likewise held that a detainer is not a warrant and carries no independent legal authority to keep someone in custody; local agencies that hold people only because of a detainer can face liability if they lack their own legal basis to detain them.

Minneapolis’ “separation ordinance” is the city’s sanctuary-style law, first adopted in 2003 and strengthened in December 2025, that separates city services and policing from federal civil immigration enforcement.

Key requirements for city officials and employees (including police and firefighters) include:

• They do not enforce federal civil immigration laws; their role is public safety, not immigration enforcement.
• They may not ask about a person’s immigration status or documentation except when required by law.
• Minneapolis police are forbidden from taking part in immigration enforcement or assisting ICE agents, and city employees may not investigate someone when the only alleged violation is being in the U.S. without authorization.
• City resources (such as services and, under the 2025 update, city-owned parking lots and ramps) generally may not be used to support ICE civil immigration operations, with limited exceptions for joint work on certain criminal investigations.
• Employees must follow these rules and can face discipline for violating them.

County jails may refuse to honor ICE detainers for both legal and policy reasons:

Legal reasons

• A detainer is only a request, not a mandate under federal law (8 C.F.R. §287.7; ICE’s own guidance says detainers “are only requests” and “do not impose any obligations”).
• Holding someone past their lawful release time only because of a detainer can violate the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable seizures if there is no independent probable cause or judicial warrant. Courts and legal groups have warned that local agencies can be sued and held liable for unlawful detention when they honor detainers without proper authority.

Policy reasons

• Many local governments adopt “sanctuary” or “separation” policies to:
  • Avoid legal liability and litigation costs over unconstitutional detentions.
  • Maintain community trust so immigrants will report crimes and cooperate with local police.
  • Keep local resources focused on local public safety priorities rather than civil immigration enforcement.

The DHS press release says that since President Trump took office, Governor Walz and Mayor Frey “released nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets of Minnesota,” but it does not explain how that number was calculated.

Specifically, DHS does not disclose in the release:

• The exact timeframe used (e.g., which months/years of Trump’s term),
• What counted as a “criminal illegal alien” (types of convictions or charges), or
• Whether the figure comes from ICE detainer data, internal tracking, or another dataset.

No public DHS or ICE document linked to this press release provides that breakdown, so from available information the precise methodology and criteria used to reach “nearly 470” are not verifiable.

Tricia (Patricia) McLaughlin is the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In this role she:

• Oversees DHS’s public outreach, including media, digital, strategic, and crisis communications, and
• Serves as the principal communications advisor to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on both external and internal communications.

Her background includes prior work in the Trump administration at the State and Treasury Departments and political communications roles in Ohio and on national campaigns.

In the Fox & Friends interview referenced by DHS and Fox News, Mayor Jacob Frey made two main points:

1. On crime and jails

• He said: “If you commit a crime … you should be investigated, charged, prosecuted, held accountable, and yes, arrested and put in jail.”
• He emphasized that Minneapolis works with federal agencies like DEA, ATF, and FBI on violent crime and that he supports prosecuting serious offenders.

2. On ICE and sanctuary policy

• Frey defended telling ICE to “get the f--- out” of Minneapolis, saying he stands by that message and calling current ICE operations chaotic and harmful to public safety.
• He argued that many people ICE is arresting in Minneapolis are not a public safety threat, and said the city is willing to cooperate with federal authorities “when it’s about murder and when it’s about crime,” but opposes large-scale civil immigration raids.
• He reiterated that he does not support abolishing ICE itself, but opposes how the Trump administration is using ICE in Minneapolis.

Official policy

• Minneapolis’ formal policy, via the separation ordinance and city guidance, is that city employees (including police) do not enforce federal civil immigration law, do not ask about immigration status except when required by law, and generally do not assist ICE with civil immigration enforcement, while still allowing cooperation with federal agencies on specified criminal matters.

When a local jail releases someone without transferring them to ICE, ICE can still locate and arrest the person later using its independent federal authority under immigration law.

Key steps and legal tools:

• Statutory authority: Under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1357 and 1226, immigration officers may investigate, arrest, and detain noncitizens they have probable cause to believe are removable, and hold them pending removal proceedings.
• Administrative warrants: ICE typically issues an internal immigration arrest warrant (e.g., Form I‑200) signed by a supervising ICE officer, not a judge. This authorizes ICE agents to arrest the person for civil immigration violations.
• Field operations: ICE can then conduct at‑large arrests—at homes, workplaces, or in public—subject to constitutional limits (e.g., needing consent or a judicial warrant to force entry into a private home).
• Detention and process: After arrest, the person is booked into ICE custody and placed in immigration proceedings or held under an existing removal order, with any further detention governed by immigration statutes and regulations.