DHS sweeps Twin Cities, arrests 400 as feds blast Walz for ‘failing to protect Minnesota’
EXCLUSIVE: As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz faces a burgeoning fraud scandal involving the Twin Cities' Somali community, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had made 400 arrests as part of its "Operation Metro Surge" in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Walz recently urged DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to review recent arrests and pointed to reported incidents of U.S. citizens being swept up in the raids. DHS has rejected those claims, noting that a woman named "Sue" whom Walz highlighted had been arrested on charges of assaulting a federal officer.
"Tim Walz and Jacob Frey failed to protect the people of Minnesota," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in regard to the hundreds of illegal immigrants who have been arrested. "They let these monsters and child predators roam free."
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McLaughlin said that among the 400 arrests were illegal immigrants charged with or convicted of rape, pedophilia and other violent crimes.
The top illegal immigrant on the "worst of the worst" list shared with Fox News Digital was Burmese national Ban Du La Sein. Sein was previously convicted of criminal sexual conduct using force or coercion in Nobles County; not far from the border with Noem’s South Dakota.
Sein had been under an order of removal for more than 10 years when he was apprehended in the Twin Cities sweep, DHS said.
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Vannaleut Keomany, a Laotian illegal immigrant, was convicted on two counts of rape in Ohio and sentenced to seven years in prison. He also was under a longstanding order of removal stretching back to 2009.
One of the Somali nationals caught in the operation was Liban Ali Osman, who had been convicted of robbery in Ohio.
Other illegal immigrants netted in the operation thus far include Somvang Phrachansiry, from Laos, who was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
Phrachansiry had previously been sentenced to eight years and six months and has been on the order-of-removal list since the second Bush administration.
Another Laotian national, Por Moua, had been sentenced to more than a dozen years combined for crimes including first-degree great bodily harm, third-degree sexual conduct, sexual intercourse with a child and false imprisonment.
Moua has had a final order of removal from the U.S. since Bill Clinton was president.
Walz did not respond to a request for comment by press time. He had urged Noem to review arrests to ensure proper judicial-warrant procedures and that she clarify legal standards for detaining U.S. citizens.
"Minnesotans have long valued civic engagement, and detaining citizens for lawfully exercising those rights or going about their daily lives sends a deeply disturbing message. I am urging Secretary Noem to respect the constitution and for her administration to ensure that federal operations are conducted lawfully and with respect for the rights of all individuals," Walz said.
Frey also did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
On Tuesday, Frey said at a press conference that he received reports of "incidents in which federal agents were involved in some form of activity."
"In many cases, those activities are largely built around terrorizing people," he said.
One day later, ICE announced it had arrested eight Somali immigrants as part of the sweep, according to the ABC affiliate in San Angelo, Texas.
Fox News Digital's Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.