Federal immigration agents in recent days have arrested dozens of refugees in Minnesota who had passed security screenings before being admitted to the United States, according to their lawyers and immigrant rights advocates.

The arrests of the refugees, who are mainly from Somalia and include children, come after an announcement last Friday that the Trump administration would “reexamine thousands of refugee cases through new background checks,” focusing on people who have yet to obtain green cards after arriving in the United States in the last year or so. But that announcement, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, did not say that the refugees would be subject to arrest and transfer to immigrant detention facilities.

Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to emailed questions on Tuesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that detained the refugees, according to the lawyers, also did not respond.

Michele Garnett McKenzie, executive director at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, said most of the detainees were being transferred to facilities in Texas. She estimated that at least 100 people had been detained.

“It’s happening very fast,” she said, adding, “It’s devastating the community.”

Among the cases she cited was one of a Somali mother who was detained, leaving behind a toddler, and another family in which a mother and two adult children were detained.

President Donald Trump closed the United States to refugees from around the world on his first day in office. In November, he began targeting refugees in Minnesota, a blue state with the country’s largest Somali population, amid reports that some Somalis there had defrauded the state, collecting millions of dollars in social services that were never provided.

Last week, his administration said that it was launching a “sweeping initiative” to conduct new background checks and intensive verification of refugees to check for fraud and other crimes.

“The initial focus is on Minnesota’s 5,600 refugees who have not yet been given lawful permanent resident status,” said the announcement from Citizenship and Immigration Services.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration separately moved to end Temporary Protected Status for a small number of Somalis who entered the country without first obtaining humanitarian protection as refugees.

The detained refugees, like all people admitted through the U.S. Refugee Program of 1980, were legally admitted under the law passed by Congress.

Before the U.S. government extends an invitation for someone to receive safe haven, the applicants must undergo rigorous vetting abroad by the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. They must prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership in a particular group.

Once admitted to the United States, refugees must apply for permanent green cards within a year. They have sometimes delayed doing so because of cost and red tape, but they have never been arrested or threatened with deportation.

“This has never happened, that you arrive as a refugee, and that on day 366, if you are still not a green card holder, you are deportable,” said Tracy Roy, legal director at Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. “That has never been the way the statute has been interpreted.” She added that none of the cases she had been contacted about involved a refugee who had committed a crime beyond traffic violations.

Roy noted that aside from Somali refugees, people from Myanmar and Eritrea had also been detained.

The refugee arrests follow days of unrest in Minneapolis fueled by the deadly shooting of an American citizen by an ICE agent this month. The Trump administration has said that the woman, Renee Nicole Good, 37, was trying to ram her vehicle into the agent, but state and local officials, including Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, have disputed the government’s account.

Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have described a brazen and sprawling fraud scandal in which people stole millions and possibly billions of dollars from state social service organizations. Of the 98 people who have been charged in connection with the fraud, 85 are of Somali descent, according to the White House.

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER

The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday called for the immediate release of tribal members who were detained at a homeless encampment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota last week.

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Three of the four Oglala Sioux Tribe members who were arrested in Minneapolis on Friday have been transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling, President Frank Star Comes Out said in a statement released with a memorandum sent to federal immigration authorities.

“The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes clear that ‘tribal citizens are not aliens’ and are ‘categorically outside immigration jurisdiction,’” Star Comes Out said. “Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the United States by statute and citizens of the Oglala Sioux Nation by treaty.”

Details about the circumstances that led to their detention were unclear.

In the memorandum sent to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Star Comes Out said the when tribal nation reached out to the agency it was provided with only the first names of the men. Homeland Security refused to release more information, unless the tribe “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.”

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.

Star Comes Out said the tribe has no plans enter an agreement with ICE.

In a post to his Facebook page, Star Comes Out said that the four detained tribal members are experiencing homelessness and living under a bridge in Minneapolis. One of the members was released from detention.

In the press release, he demanded information on the status of the three men in detention, the release of all tribal citizens in ICE custody and a meeting between the tribe and the government.

By CEDAR ATTANASIO

SEATTLE (AP) — Six puppies in rural Washington state will soon be up for adoption after being revived after a suspected drug overdose — and some of them might go home with the fire-station staff who saved them.

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Two people dropped off three of the sickened puppies at Sky Valley Fire, about an hour’s drive northeast of Seattle, on Sunday. Officials believe the animals either breathed or ate fentanyl.

Firefighters sprayed the anti-overdose medication naloxone up their noses, and also treated them with oxygen and even performed CPR. It wasn’t long before their tails started wagging, Battalion Chief Brandon Vargas said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies tracked down the people believed to have dropped off the dogs and found three more puppies that also needed treatment. An animal cruelty or neglect investigation is underway. The pair claimed they were caring for the puppies temporarily, authorities said.

There have been a number of other cases nationally where pets have been saved after being exposed to fentanyl or other opioids.

The puppies have a clean bill of health, but are being quarantined for about one more week before being released for adoption, said David Byrd, manager of Snohomish County Animal Services.

The Everett animal shelter that has been monitoring their health has been overwhelmed with adoption offers, and asked people to not call the shelter with questions about the puppies.

“We definitely have some personnel that are interested in wanting to adopt those,” Vargas said.

In February of last year, the Texas Observer reported that James “Jim” Joseph Rodden—an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assistant chief counsel who acts as a prosecutor for ICE in immigration court in Dallas—operates a white supremacist X account named GlomarResponder, based on an overwhelming number of biographical details that the Observer matched through publicly available documents, other social media activity, and courtroom observation.

The account has over 17,000 followers and has routinely posted hateful statements, including that “America is a White nation,” that “‘Migrants’ are all criminals,” and that “All blacks are foreign to my people,” in addition to posts with apparent praise of Adolf Hitler.

After the Observer’s initial story was published, Rodden was apparently pulled from federal immigration court schedules. Three members of Congress sent letters to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security demanding an investigation into Rodden. ICE responded in a letter last March to Congressman Marc Veasey, who represents part of Dallas, stating that the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) “understands the seriousness of the allegations and will ensure the allegations are addressed appropriately, fairly, and expeditiously” and that typically “OPR administrative investigations are completed within 120 days.” ICE has not provided any further information since.

Upon receiving a tip from a source that works inside the Dallas Immigration Court, the Observer arrived at the courtroom of Judge Deitrich H. Sims Tuesday afternoon ahead of the day’s merits hearings for federal immigration cases. When the Observer opened the door to the courtroom, Rodden was sitting at the prosecutor’s desk. A court clerk said the Observer was not allowed to sit in on the hearings. The Observer also obtained a photo of Rodden exiting the courtroom Tuesday wearing his staff badge. 

James Rodden at the federal immigration court in Dallas on January 13, 2026.

ICE did not immediately respond to the Observer’s request for comment on Rodden’s employment status. 

Rodden’s apparent return to work as an ICE prosecutor in immigration court comes at a time when ICE’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics are driving national controversy and mass protests, especially after an ICE agent in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Good, a mother and award-winning poet, on January 7.

Rodden’s X account, GlomarResponder, is set to private but is still active. On September 28, 2025, the account responded to the question “Can anyone point to me exactly where America started going downhill?” The account responded: “November 6, 1860”—the date that President Abraham Lincoln, the president whose administration ended slavery, was elected.

The post ICE Prosecutor Who Runs Racist X Account Returns to Dallas Immigration Court  appeared first on The Texas Observer.