Trump administration border czar Tom Homan said Minnesota had been left “safer” following a six-week surge of federal immigration enforcement in the state. But as he announced an end to the crackdown on Thursday, state officials testified to a U.S. Senate committee on the toll of federal actions.

At an oversight hearing of the Senate Homeland Security oversight committee, Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell, an appointee of DFL Gov. Tim Walz, questioned whether the thousands of reported arrests made during “Operation Metro Surge” had delivered any substantial public safety benefits.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has maintained that its operation has focused on removing the “worst of the worst” from the streets. Schnell disputed that characterization, noting that many of the close to 500 detainees listed on the ICE website did not have charges listed for violent offenses or felonies.

“I simply can’t imagine how many dollars have been spent in Operation Metro Surge. It is staggering. The cost of human life, as well as the actual financial resources, is hard to even imagine,” Schnell said. “This certainly has not been ultimately beneficial for the safety of our state.”

MN corrections official: State prisons do handover those in U.S. illegally

Two activists — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were shot dead by immigration agents in January while clashing with federal authorities during immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis. Schnell said, in his testimony, that only when a lack of coordination between the state and federal government grew into a crisis did the Trump administration become more open to collaboration and discussion with Minnesota.

“Unchecked enforcement can lead to tragedy and a profound loss of trust,” Schnell said. “Constitutional rights are not partisan issues. Governments must be checked and balanced and law enforcement must operate within the law.”

The state corrections leader was among four Minnesota officials to testify in Washington on Thursday. DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, and House Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska, a representative from Ramsey, also testified.

Schnell reiterated to senators what he had been saying for weeks in response to claims by federal authorities that Minnesota had not been cooperating with immigration enforcement: Minnesota prisons do, in fact, hand over people in the U.S. illegally at the end of their sentences.

U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer: ‘Chaos in Minneapolis was entirely preventable’

Emmer and Niska told members that clashes between protesters and federal agents and general unrest in recent weeks could have been avoided if state authorities had cooperated with federal immigration officials. Local governments in the Twin Cities do not cooperate with ICE, as the state does.

“The chaos in Minneapolis was entirely preventable had local law enforcement been allowed to work with federal law enforcement from the beginning,” Emmer told the committee. “By preventing local law enforcement from working together with federal law enforcement, they have turned Minnesota into a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens.”

Niska noted that Hennepin only honored 8% of federal immigration detainer requests over the last two years, based on data from the Deportation Project Database, a research initiative by the University of California, Los Angeles, and UC Berkley. Ramsey County honored 6%.

Niska said he appreciated “recalibration of federal enforcement” under Homan, which he described as creating a more “focused and disciplined effort on the ground.”

Keith Ellison asks for more information on detainees

Ellison told the committee that the immigration surge, which brought more than 3,000 agents to Minnesota, had “caused real harm to our state.”

He called on senators to use their oversight powers to obtain more information on the number of individuals ICE had detained and deported during the operation, push for a federal-state joint investigation of the Good and Pretti shootings — which so far federal officials have declined — and to stop agents from covering their faces during operations and engaging in racial profiling.

Walz on Thursday told reporters that it was possible that the state and officials in the administration of President Donald Trump could still cooperate on investigations, but that leaked information on talks last week made federal officials hesitate.

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By SUDHIN THANAWALA

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to make arrangements to allow some of the Venezuelan migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador to return to the U.S. at the government’s expense.

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The case has been a legal flashpoint in the administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. It started in March after President Donald Trump invoked the 18th century Alien Enemies Act to send Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to a mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

In Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington criticized the White House’s response to his earlier order that it come up with a plan to give the men a chance to challenge their removals.

“Apparently not interested in participating in this process, the Government’s responses essentially told the Court to pound sand,” Boasberg wrote. Nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, the judge has repeatedly clashed with the administration over the deportations.

An email to the White House was not immediately returned.

The 137 men were later returned to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange brokered by the United States.

Lee Gelernt, their attorney in the U.S., said at a court hearing on Monday that plaintiffs’ attorneys are in touch with a handful of them who have since managed to leave Venezuela and are now in a third country. These men are interested in clearing their names, he said.

Boasberg’s order says U.S. officials must provide the men in third countries who wish to fly back to U.S. with a boarding letter. The government must also cover their airfare. He noted the men would be detained upon their return.

Those men and the migrants who remain in Venezuela can also file new legal documents arguing the presidential proclamation under which they were deported illegally invoked the 18th century wartime law, the judge ruled. The legal filings can also challenge their designation as members of the Tren de Aragua gang.

Boasberg said he could decide later whether to require hearings and how to conduct them, but it was up to the government to “remedy the wrong that it perpetrated here and to provide a means for doing so.”

“Were it otherwise, the Government could simply remove people from the United States without providing any process and then, once they were in a foreign country, deny them any right to return for a hearing or opportunity to present their case from abroad,” he wrote.

FILE – A mega-prison known as Detention Center Against Terrorism (CECOT) stands in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez, File)

In March, Trump officials flew the Venezuelan men to the prison, despite a verbal order from Boasberg for the aircraft to turn around. Boasberg subsequently started a contempt investigation, though the dramatic battle between the judicial and executive branches has been paused by an appeals court.

The administration has denied violating his order.

Gelernt said in a statement on Thursday Boasberg had “begun the process of giving these men their right to challenge their removal.”

“Remarkably, although the government does not dispute the men were denied due process, it still was not willing to do what was right without a court order,” he said.

By MIKE CATALINI

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Analilia Mejia, a longtime progressive organizer allied with Sen. Bernie Sanders, has emerged victorious in a crowded Democratic primary in the special election to fill the U.S. House seat formerly held by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

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The Associated Press declared Mejia the winner Thursday, one week after the closely contested race ended on Feb. 5.

Mejia, 48, overcame former Rep. Tom Malinowski and about a dozen other candidates in New Jersey’s 11th District.

Malinowski had already conceded the race, and Mejia has consolidated support among top Democratic leaders in the state ahead of the April 16 special general election against Republican Joe Hathaway.

The progressive victory shows the evolution of New Jersey’s 11th District, which includes parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties and some of New York City’s wealthier suburbs. The district was reliably Republican until President Donald Trump’s first term, when Sherrill won as part of a Democratic wave in 2018.

Now, instead of backing a more moderate replacement for Sherrill, primary voters chose Mejia, who campaigned on populist economic policies and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Republicans plan to portray her as too far left for the district.

A former director of the Working Families Alliance in New Jersey, Mejia was a regular presence in the state capitol, advocating for progressive causes. She served as Sanders’ political director during his 2020 presidential run, and she was the deputy director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau under President Joe Biden.

In addition to Sanders, she was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Another key player in the race was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose affiliated super PAC tried to thwart Malinowski after he questioned unconditional aid to the Israeli government. Their efforts appeared to backfire as Mejia, who said she agreed Israel committed genocide in Gaza, edged out a victory.

The winner of the April 16 special general election will serve out the remainder of Sherrill’s term, which ends in January. There will also be a regular primary June 2 and a general election Nov. 3 for the new term.

By REBECCA SANTANA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The men tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda were made to watch a video of the shooting death of Alex Pretti in a slow, moment-by-moment analysis on Thursday by Sen. Rand Paul, who repeatedly cast doubt on the tactics used by federal officers and warned that the American public had lost trust in the country’s immigration agencies.

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It was a tense confrontation at a Senate hearing that was called to scrutinize the immigration chiefs as they carry out one of Trump’s signature policy and after the deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis over recent weeks at the hands of federal officers.

Paul, who paused the video every few seconds to explain his interpretation of the events, argued that Pretti posed no threat to the officers and questioned why the situation culminated in the ICU nurse’s death.

“He is retreating at every moment,” said Paul, speaking of Pretti’s behavior while officers pepper-sprayed him. “He’s trying to get away and he’s being sprayed in the face.”

The hearing’s witnesses included Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Rodney Scott, who heads Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, who runs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The same officials appeared in front of a House committee earlier this week.

Paul’s comments were a strong rebuke of the conduct by CBP officers who ultimately shot and killed Pretti on Jan. 24 in Minneapolis.

“It’s clearly evident that the public trust has been lost. To restore trust in ICE and Border Patrol they must admit their mistakes, be honest and forthright with their rules of engagement and pledge to reform,” Paul said in his opening statements.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during a Senate Homeland Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

But Paul, who’s often shown a willingness to buck party line, was the lone Republican voice questioning the immigration officers’ conduct with others steering clear of any criticism. Democrats also weighed in with sharp condemnation of the shooting and, more broadly, on how officers from those agencies are using force when carrying out their responsibilities.

Scott disputed that Pretti wasn’t a threat.

“What I’m seeing is a subject that’s also not complying. He’s not following any guidance. He’s fighting back nonstop,” said Scott.

Lyons disputed claims that his officers are not held accountable. He said in the year since Trump took office, ICE has opened 37 investigations for excessive force; 18 were closed, 19 are still pending and one was been referred for “further action,” he said.

Todd Lyons, senior official performing the duties of the director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, speaks during a Senate Homeland Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

The shooting death of Pretti, along with another American citizen, Renee Good, who were protesting immigration enforcement in Minnesota, sparked outrage and prompted changes to the Minnesota operation. On Thursday, Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced that he was winding down the operation, which at one point included 3,000 ICE and CBP officers.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal pushed Lyons to explain a memo he wrote justifying the use of administration warrants — documents signed by an ICE officer and not an independent judge — to forcibly enter a home to make an arrest.

The Associated Press reported last month that ICE was asserting sweeping power through the use of administrative warrants in its enforcement operations.

Administrative warrants historically have not been sufficient to overcome Fourth Amendment protections that guard against illegal searches.

Lyons defended the practice, arguing that there is case law in Minnesota that allows officers to enter a home to catch a fugitive using only an administrative warrant.

Blumenthal, who compared the ICE’s administrative warrants to a permission slip, said they aren’t enough to overcome constitutional protections.

From left, Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Rodney Scott, commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Todd Lyons, senior official performing the duties of the director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are sworn in before a Senate Homeland Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)

Other Republicans directed their toughest questioning toward an earlier panel of Minnesota officials. When questioning Lyons and Scott, they focused not on the officers’ tactics but on the threats they said ICE and CBP officers faced in carrying out their jobs.

Sen. Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin, asked Lyons to talk about the “violence, the threats, the doxing against ICE officers.”

“That’s where I’ve got a great deal of sympathy for people trying to enforce law,” he said.