Waves of Minneapolis residents filled frigid city blocks and packed the Timberwolves NBA arena Friday to demand ICE leave their neighborhoods, even as the immigration official orchestrating the crackdown promised detentions would not let up.
Protests touched virtually every corner of the city Friday. Storm-weathered Minnesotans enduredsubzero temperaturesat a downtown march, airport protest, arena rally and saw an "economic blackout" in which businesses closed their doors to boycott ICE's presence.
But Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino doubled down on the unrelenting detention effort, which has at times swept uplegal residents,US citizensand evena preschooler. He vowed earlier Friday to continue the government's search for "criminal aliens."
"We're going to take them off the streets wholesale," Bovino said at a news conference. "It's on. We won't quit."
Children and families are among those caught up in the mass deportation campaign. A 5-year-old boy wasdetained alongside his fatherin their driveway earlier this week, adding to the mounting list of controversial encounters over which federal and state officials are clashing.
Fallout continues over the ICE shooting of Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good, as two sources tell CNN an FBI agent originally tasked with an investigation into the encounter has resigned.
As tensions reach a fever pitch in Minnesota, Maine has found itself to be the latest state in the crackdown crosshairs. The Trump administration, continuing its penchant for meme-ready monikers, has dubbed the effort "Operation Catch of the Day" and announced more than 100 arrests this week.
Here's the latest:
FBI agent investigating fatal ICE shooting resigns: The FBI agent who was assigned to work with state investigators to look into the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good has resigned from the bureau, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Soon after the agent opened a civil rights investigation into the officer, she was ordered to reclassify it as an investigation into an assault on the officer. It comes amid a much larger purge of seasoned FBI agents across several states, multiple sources familiar with the departures told CNN.
5-year-old remains in custody: There are dramatically conflicting accounts over what led up to the detention of preschooler Liam Conejo Ramos alongside his father. Amid concern for the boy's welfare, Bovino, the Border Patrol official, said Friday his agents are "experts in dealing with children." The child and his parent have been sent to a family detention facility in Texas. Liam is now the fourth child from his school district to be taken away by ICE in just the past two weeks, Columbia Heights Public Schools said.
Feud over state detainees: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin declined to say how long federal operations would last in Minnesota but said the situation there could be "quelled" if Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey agreed to hand over people in the state's correctional facilities who are wanted by ICE. But officials disagree over how many people in state custody are under ICE detainers. McLaughlin said there are over 1,000, while a state corrections chief says there are only a few hundred.
Good family wants "real investigation": Antonio Romanucci, the attorney for the family of Renee Good, called for "real due process" and a "real investigation" after the 37-year-old was shot by an ICE agent. He believed the findings of an independent autopsy, including the trajectory of one of the bullets, suggest Good may have been driving away from the agent when he fatally shot her. But DHS has claimed Good was at fault and has shifted its investigation to focus on whether the agent was assaulted.
Former NAACP leader released: Civil rights attorney and former NAACP leader Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was arrested after protesting at a church over the weekend, was released from custody Friday, her attorney said. She and community organizer Chauntyll Allen were charged with conspiracy against rights, according to the arrest warrants. Allen was also ordered released. The pair were among a group of protesters who interrupted a service at a St. Paul church where one of the pastors is believed to be a top ICE official.
ICE comes to Maine: The small state, which is home to a sizable Somali population, is the latest target of national immigration enforcement. ICE has arrested more than 100 people there this week, DHS said. Among those detained was a corrections officer recruit with a "squeaky clean" record, Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said. DHS said in a statement Friday the man "had illegally crossed the southern border in 2019."
19-year-old chased by federal agent in Minneapolis: Video shows a federal immigration agent chasing a 19-year-old down the street in Minneapolis Thursday before detaining him, his face pressed against the snow-covered ground. DHS called the teen "a 19-year-old illegal alien from Ecuador" and said he fled when agents tried to stop his car and then crashed his vehicle. He and his passenger will both remain in custody pending removal proceedings, DHS said. ICE records show he is being held in the East Montana detention facility in El Paso.
CNN's Evan Perez, Holmes Lybrand, Priscilla Alvarez, Holly Yan, Elise Hammond, Maria Aguilar Prieto, Alaa Elassar, Zoe Sottile, Andy Rose and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com
