Trump Admin Launches Next Immigration Raids In Minneapolis & New Orleans
U.S. Border Patrol agents detain a man on the street on December 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Trump administration launched new immigration enforcement operations in New Orleans, LA, and Minneapolis–Saint Paul, MN, on Wednesday, in its latest crackdown across Democratic-run cities coast-to-coast.
TALE OF TWO REGIONS:
NEW ORLEANS: The Dept. of Homeland Security dubbed the stepped-up immigration enforcement operation in and around New Orleans “Catahoula Crunch.” DHS says the operation will target “criminal aliens.”
About 250 agents will reportedly be sent to the Mississippi and Louisiana region with the aim of arresting about 5,000 people — more than in recent operations in Chicago (4,000) or Charlotte (500).
Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry is welcoming the plan “with open arms.”
MINNEAPOLIS: The Twin Cities’ operation is reportedly focused on Somali immigrants following reports of a billion-dollar fraud scheme involving Minnesota social programs over the past five years — a case tied to several dozen individuals within the state’s roughly 80,000-person Somali American community. The vast majority of the groups are now naturalized U.S. citizens.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey warned that up to 100 federal agents would be arriving. And Minneapolis police say they will not assist federal authorities.
MN SCANDAL
President Trump threatened to end Temporary Protected Status for about 700 Somali immigrants on Nov. 21, posting on Truth Social: “Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from. It’s OVER!.”
Federal prosecutors say more than a billion dollars in taxpayer money has been stolen from the state’s robust social programs — from free meals for kids during COVID, to housing support, to autism therapy — through fake invoices, clients, and even companies, later spent on luxury homes, cars, and overseas real estate.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his agency will investigate allegations that some of that money was passed to Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda–linked militant group that controls parts of Somalia.
Republican Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is running against Gov. Tim Walz (D) in 2026, accused the governor of raising taxes while letting “fraud run wild.”
Trump has also targeted Walz over the fraud scandal, calling him “incompetent” Tuesday and adding that Somalia-born residents “contribute nothing. The welfare is like 88% or something. They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country.”
He also called U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who was born in Somalia, “garbage.”
Data on the immigration statuses of the Somali-Americans in Minnesota is not readily available, but the vast majority of Somali people in Minnesota have legal status, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday. Minnesota State Sen. Zaynab Mohamed said, “When ICE agents interact with Somalis here, they will find what we’ve been saying for years: Almost all of us are U.S. citizens.”
Walz condemned the pending immigration operation on X Tuesday: “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime. But pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.”
