ICE Chief Summoned as Minneapolis Raids Face Court Scrutiny (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Now let's turn to Minneapolis where the White House seems to be changing course over its immigration crackdown in Minnesota. A federal judge in the state has ordered the acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, ICE, Todd Lyons to appear personally in court on Friday to answer accusations the Trump administration has failed to comply with court orders. Two further key developments following outrage over the killing of two US citizens by federal agents in the city this month. Border Czar Tom Homan is to take over leading immigration enforcement operations in the city and the Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino is expected to leave along with 3,000 of his agents. So let's head to my colleague Karl Masman who's still there in Minneapolis for us. Karl, let's take this in stages. That line I read out that's emerged in the last hour or so, the acting head of ICE called to federal court on Friday to tell me more about that because that sounds significant.

[00:01:02] Speaker 2: Matthew, we have seen some clashes in the courts in Minneapolis and you know we've seen of course the demonstrations in the streets but really a legal battle has been playing out here over the past few weeks over this immigration crackdown. This is the latest saga here. Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, now being called to appear before a judge or at least submit testimony on Friday about the administration's actions and really lack of follow-through when it comes to court orders. So one big example here that the judge is citing is the failure to hold a bond hearing for a detainee who was being held by ICE essentially here in the city within seven days. They said hey look you need to hold this bond hearing. This person has the right to appear in court and to say whether or not they should be released. Are they dangerous? Should they be held here or can this person be released while they await some sort of a court hearing after that? So these are serious allegations on the part of this Minnesota judge here and of course this is all the backdrop of some other legal hearings that we were following yesterday. There's a case in court right now brought by the state and local officials asking for all 3,000 of these immigration agents to leave the city. They call this entire operation unconstitutional. That's something we'll be waiting for. We haven't had a ruling there yet. And of course you know you mentioned Greg Bovino. He is expected to be leaving the state soon. He's the head of the Border Patrol Force and Tom Homan, the border czar who does report directly to the president. He is expected to arrive at some point today. We haven't heard whether or not he is actually set foot here but certainly at least a shift in strategy and definitely some leadership changes at the top of this operation here in Minnesota.

[00:02:44] Speaker 1: Yes, when it comes to those changes does all of that suggest that perhaps the White House, the president is recognizing the damage that these events, these pictures, this story is actually doing to him and his administration?

[00:03:00] Speaker 2: Well we've heard a lot from President Trump personally recently posting on his Truth Social account saying that he's had these conversations directly with Democratic leaders here in the state. Tim Walz, the governor, Jacob Fry, the mayor, he said that those conversations have been great, they've been productive and we heard on the other side as well from those leaders saying that they appreciated those phone calls. He's promised to work more directly with those leaders. That's something that Tom Homan is expected to do, to have a meeting today actually with the mayor of this city to try to coordinate a little bit better, avoid some of the ugly scenes we've seen in the streets and obviously to try to avoid these deadly incidents. Two U.S. citizens shot and killed by immigration agents in just the last three weeks but the question will be is this more just a shift in political strategy and what will this do to tactics? Will we see actual changes in the streets? Will there be changes in terms of the way that these immigration enforcement agents carry out their job because there have been allegations under Mr. Bovino, under Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary of racially profiling people in the streets, of using heavy-handed tactics, of obviously using deadly force. So will those sorts of things change? Will we see a more targeted response here? We actually heard from President Trump on his Truth Social account not long ago saying he wants criminals and that was the promise he made during his campaign was he wanted to arrest what he called the worst criminals in the country that were here illegally and make sure that they leave the state. So will there be a change of tactics? That's something we'll be watching. I think one more thing to watch, Matthew, we are expecting President Trump to be in Iowa today. He'll be making one of these rallies, one of these big speeches. That's supposed to be focusing on the state of the economy, on affordability, but I think it will be very difficult for the president to avoid talking about the events we've seen taking place here in Minnesota.

[00:04:50] Speaker 1: Karl, we will leave it there. Thanks very much. Live from Minneapolis, Karl Masman.