Minnesota
ICE agents drew guns on off-duty officer in Minnesota, chief says
Federal agents stopped an off-duty officer in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, stopped her from recording the interaction and drew their guns, a local police chief said.
Native Americans detained in Trump’s Minnesota ICE raids
The Oglala Sioux Tribe said three men are still in detention after being transferred to an ICE detention center.
Immigration agents stopped off-duty officers in Minnesota “solely because of the color of their skin,” a group of local police chiefs alleged, as concern grows over the ongoing immigration enforcement in the state.
American citizens are being stopped “on the streets with no cause and being forced to produce paperwork to determine if they are here legally,” said Mark Bruley, chief of the Brooklyn Park Police Department, which operates in a suburb north of Minneapolis.
He added that police officers “fell victim to this while off duty” and that the stops appear to “target” people of color.
In one encounter, a Brooklyn Park police officer was boxed in by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who “demanded her paperwork,” Bruley said.
Agents “had their guns drawn,” he said, adding that one agent knocked the police officer’s phone out of her hand when she tried to record the interaction.
“I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident,” Bruley said, flanked by several local chiefs of police. “If it is happening to our officers, it pains me to think of how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day. It has to stop.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The police chiefs’ remarks come amid heightened scrutiny of the tactics being used by federal immigration agents after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7.
Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have defended the actions of federal agents in recent weeks, insisting that operations are targeted. Noem and other Homeland Security officials have said that people near their alleged targets may be subject to questioning.
“In every situation we are doing targeted enforcement,” said Noem while speaking to reporters on Jan. 15. “If we are on a target and doing an operation, there may be individuals surrounding that criminal who we may be asking who they are and why they’re there and having them validate their identity.”
Axel Henry, chief of the Saint Paul Police Department, spoke at the Jan. 20 news conference and raised concerns about federal agents’ actions.
“We’ve had employees for our city that have experienced some of the same things. Thankfully not with firearms drawn, but traffic stops that were clearly outside the bounds of what federal agents are allowed to do,” Henry said.
“These processes are clearly failing if American citizens are being grabbed or stopped or seized,” Henry added. “This can’t happen.”
About 3,000 immigration agents are in Minnesota as part of “Operation Metro Surge,” which officials have called the “largest immigration operation ever.” According to the Department of Homeland Security, at least 3,000 undocumented immigrants have been arrested since the operation began in December.
USA TODAY could not immediately verify those figures as the agency does not release the names of most of those arrested or the breakdown of their charges.
Since the fatal shooting of Good, tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest the immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and cities nationwide. Rapid response groups have also fanned out across Minnesota, following masked agents and unmarked vans to record the actions of federal agents.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz encouraged civilians to protest peacefully and record federal agents for “future prosecution.”
Local police leaders seemed to doubt that any actions taken by federal immigration agents could lead to criminal charges, saying that federal officers are largely immune from prosecution for actions taken as part of their official duties.
Bruley, of Brooklyn Park, said he’s been met by confusion and more questions when he’s tried to get answers from the Department of Homeland Security.
“When you call ICE leadership or you call Border Patrol leadership … they’re unable to tell you what their people were doing that day,” he said. “They like to give you a website to go file a complaint, but the complaint requires the identity of the agents. The agents don’t have nametags on, they cover their faces.”
Bruley said while most federal agents are “doing focused, legitimate immigration work,” it appears “there are groups that seem to have less supervision.” He did not elaborate on the “groups” but said the most aggressive enforcement didn’t begin until after the deadly shooting of Good.
The state of Minnesota and the Twin Cities filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking to halt the ongoing immigration enforcement. A judge declined to issue an emergency injunction expelling the agents.
In a separate case filed in December, the same judge barred federal agents from using pepper spray or arresting peaceful protesters in Minnesota, finding sufficient evidence that agents had used “intimidation tactics,” such as the “drawing and pointing of weapons; the use of pepper spray and other non-lethal munitions,” according to an order filed in federal court.
Christopher Cann is a national breaking news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact him via email at ccann@usatoday.com.
What to know about PCBs and their impact on the Great Lakes, Wisconsin
PCBs are a class of more than 200 chemicals that are known to cause cancer.
An invasive shrimp is swimming in Lake Superior. This is the last Great Lake to be invaded — all five Great Lakes now are infested by the crustaceans..
Researchers for the first time have confirmed a breeding population of an invasive Black Sea-native shrimp in Lake Superior.
The number and extent of the shrimp’s spread in Lake Superior is not clear. However, there is a breeding population in the Duluth.
The findings by researchers at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Lake Superior Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin Superior, and the Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York, published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research in April, found that the shrimp are now reproducing and surviving year-round in the Duluth-Superior Harbor, the farthest west the European species has been confirmed.
“Samples we collected in 2025 from two locations in the Duluth-Superior Harbor, a major inland shipping port in the Great Lakes, contained juveniles, adult males, and (pregnant or with young) adult females, indicating a self-sustaining population. Additionally, we document earlier evidence from 2018 samples we collected in the harbor that contained two juvenile specimens,” the article in the Journal said.
In an interview on the CBC’s “Superior Morning” show with Mary-Jane Cormier on June 10, lead researcher Donn Branstrator, of the University of Minnesota, said studies in the Duluth-Superior Harbor this spring after ice was off the lake found adult males and females.
“It’s pretty clear evidence of overwintering,” Branstrator told Cormier. “It would be very unlikely for the population to extinguish (at this point).”
Branstrator told Cormier ongoing bi-weekly research in the harbor, and along the Lake Superior shoreline will exam those questions.
According to the research, the non-native shrimp, about a quarter to half inch long, were first detected in the lower Great Lakes in 2006 in lakes Michigan and Ontario. By 2008, they were found in lakes Huron and Erie as well.
“It has also spread to Oneida and Seneca Lakes in New York … as well as the St. Lawrence River and various canals in northern New York State,” the research said.
Branstrator said the Black and Caspian sea region natives, also have spread throughout Europe into areas they were not native. He said they likely hitchhiked with ballast or bilge water, but the exact mechanism will never be known.
What we know about bloody red shrimp.
What is a bloody red shrimp?
Bloody red shrimp are small crustaceans native to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea region of Europe. They are adapted for fresh and brackish water.
This freshwater shrimp can be ivory-yellow in color or translucent, but exhibits pigmented red pigment cells in the carapax and tail, according to the USGS.
The quarter to half inch long shrimp feed on both phytoplankton and zooplankton at various stages of life.
While relatively small, they are among the larger creatures in the Great Lakes feeding on those food sources.
“They are very large bodied, at the upper end of what we consider zooplankton,” Branstrator said.
Branstrator said the shrimp live in near-shore environments and like to hide in crevices during the day, making use of dock pilings, breakwaters and other human-made structures.
They come out at night and “swarm” together in groups of up to 135 per square foot, the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant said.
Bloody red shrimp have a lifespan of about nine months, grow to adults in just 45 days, and an produce up to four generations per year. Females have been documented to carry up to 66 eggs in a clutch. Broods carried by females in the Muskegon population ranged from two to seven.
Where have the shrimp been found?
The shrimp have spread throughout Europe and now have been found in all five Great Lakes, as well as some locations away from the lakes.
The recent study found a breeding population in the Duluth, Minnesota, harbor, the first in Lake Superior.
According to the research, the non-native shrimp, about a quarter to half inch long, were first detected in the lower Great Lakes in 2006 in lakes Michigan (near Muskegon) and Ontario. By 2008, they were found in lakes Huron and Erie as well.
A single specimen was found in Duluth in 2017, and two were found in 2018. It wasn’t until 2025 that the researchers found a sustaining population when they captured 81 individuals.
How did the shrimp arrive in the Great Lakes?
The shrimp likely hitched a ride in the ballast water of ocean-going vessels, although Branstrator noted during an interview on CBC’s “Superior Morning” that we will never know for certain.
He added that the shrimp have multiple opportunities to hitch rides with vessels during the shipping season.
What impact will the shrimp have on Lake Superior and the Great Lakes?
Branstrator said that question hasn’t been answered. They feed on the same sources as other water-dwelling creatures, but they are large enough that small fish may find them to be a new food source.
Are any shrimp native to the Great Lakes?
The opossom shrimp is a Great Lakes native and looks similar to the bloody red shrimp.
A St. Cloud Tech ninth-grader won the Minnesota State High School League Clay Shooting championship on Friday.
Allie Lauer won the title with a score of 99 and reverse run of 83, while second-place finisher Isabella Blaz (Rosemount) also scored a 99 but a reverse run of 54. LeRoy-Ostrander’s Kimberly Volkart finished in third place with a score of 98.
MSHSL:
“I was nervous coming in because the other girls are older,” Lauer said. “It was nice weather today and things worked out well. Your average (score) doesn’t really matter. Just keep a good mindset and don’t focus on the scores.”
BOYS CLAY SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP
Proctor sophomore Lane Graves took home the championship after a grueling three-way, two-round shoot-off against Rushford-Peterson’s Colton Ronnenberg (second place) and Prior Lake’s Jack Benedict.
After Benedict was eliminated in the first shoot-off, Graves outlasted Ronnenberg with a 9-7 win in round two.
TEAM CLAY SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP
The Bemidji Lumberjacks took the team title with a total score of 487, one ahead of Lakeville South and five better than both Stewartville and Spring Grove.
St. Cloud’s Stanley Cup Champion Nate Schmidt [GALLERY]
Former St. Cloud Cathedral and University of Minnesota standout Nate Schmidt will bring the Stanley Cup to St. Cloud on August 25th. Here’s a look at his career through photos.
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