Minneapolis Faces Larger Federal Deployment After Shooting (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Just in Siena has learned that about 1000 additional customs and border protection agents are set to deploy to Minneapolis that is according to two federal law enforcement sources. An ICE agent there shot and killed Renee Good just last week. Let's get to see it as Whitney Wild for the very latest on all this in this additional deployment said Whitney. What are you learning?

[00:00:24] Speaker 2: Well, this is a massive increase, John, because this was already the largest operation action to date with 2000 agents spread throughout the Twin Cities. Now we know that it's going to be a 50%. Increase 3000 agents spread throughout that area. This is according to two sources. According to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino had already been on the ground. He is going to be part of this operation. He is a well known figure. He led operations in Chicago, New Orleans and Charlotte. One of the sources telling Priscilla that he is going to be conducting targeted operations which include door knocks and in those situations, the documents that are provided to those targets will include administrative warrants which are signed by an immigration officer but do not carry the same legal weight as a judicial warrant or they will be copies. Of final orders of removal, John, as you mentioned, this all comes on the heels of an ICE officer shooting and killing Renee Nicole Good leaders in Minneapolis and leaders at the White House have two completely different ideas about what happened. The White House continuing to defend that officer saying that he feared for his life that she attempted or did run him over saying that this was an act of domestic terrorism. Kristi Noem doubled down on those comments in an interview with Jake Tapper on Sunday. Minneapolis leaders say that could not be further from the truth. She posed no risk to that officer that this was a completely unjustified shooting and they are calling for more local involvement in a federal investigation which at this point is being led. Exclusively by the FBI and the US Attorney's Office in Minneapolis knew over the weekend John Democratic lawmakers attempted to enter an ICE facility. They were inside briefly before being escorted out on Thursday of last week. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had changed the policy about allowing unannounced visits by lawmakers at saying that that they need at least a week's notice. And John, the reason for that, she said, was that it's too difficult to move around the staffing that is required for an unannounced visit. Basically saying when you have these lawmakers who just show up, that means that they have to take agents off of other important tasks and instead escort them inside these buildings. So now saying no more unannounced visits. Instead, they want at least a week's notice.

[00:02:42] Speaker 1: John, alright, so just some of the new developments there. Whitney, we know you're keeping your eye on it. Thank you very, very much.

[00:02:48] Speaker 3: OK, let's talk about these new developments with someone who knows everything about them. Joining us right now is a former U.S. Senator John Sandweg. It's great to see you again, John. So first on the hundreds of more officers that are now being sent into Minnesota to back up ice agents while they continue operations. What do you think that will do to the situation?

[00:03:11] Speaker 4: OK, I think it has a real risk of inflaming the situation. We really need to deescalate things in Minneapolis right now. The state and locals have indicated they do not want this extensive presence right of immigration enforcement agents in the city. This doesn't mean so. I think what we'd like to see is we reduce the visibility of the deployment here. This doesn't mean we have to say we're abandoning immigration enforcement. I think some people have tried to characterize it as either you have these mass deployments where you have no immigration enforcement at all. We know that's not true. Ice has arrested millions of people since its inception without these images that we're seeing now. But by doubling down and redeploying, you know we're sending the opposite message that we do not care what the state and locals think. It's going to trigger more, and it's also just going to inflame the passions of these protesters and Kate very quickly. What also concerns me is where we're getting these agents from. These are Border Patrol agents. Primarily that they're just not trained or experienced in doing operations in these urban environments. They're trained for the border itself, so that the nature and experience level of these officers themselves. That concerns me as well.

[00:04:11] Speaker 3: It's really an interesting, important point. What do you think of the change in policy? John was just talking about with Whitney Wild that the Homeland Security Secretary just put in place. No more unannounced visits. They cannot accommodate unannounced visits by lawmakers to ice facilities. They now need a week's notice saying that they just can't accommodate it. Do you? Do you? Does that make sense to you?

[00:04:31] Speaker 4: You know, Kate, listen, it's disruptive when a member of Congress drops in on a facility. I appreciate and understand that, but I think what's what this goes back to a larger point, which is the administration, especially at DHS and within ICE, has really eliminated a lot of that accountability and oversight of the agency. They've diminished the funding of the, you know, and basically effectively neutralized the internal detention of Budsman at ICE. They've eliminated or completely, you know, cut back on the civil rights and civil liberties office. And there's obviously been across the federal government restrictions on inspectors generals. When you're at an agency like this, all of those means of oversight really do help ensure that you're trying to do, excuse me, try to do things the right way. And so while unannounced congressional visits, and that is something that Congress themselves put into appropriations bills, demanding that right while they are frustrating, while they can be inconvenient. The point is that they are unannounced that they congressmen can drop in at any time and see exactly what is going on inside a detention facility and make determinations about whether or not, you know, ICE is doing its absolute best to provide for the care and custody of the detainees. So I appreciate, understand the department's position. That said, I do think these kind of things are just helpful in keeping everybody held accountable.

[00:05:42] Speaker 3: Yeah. And, you know, especially when you've got the local, the state investigative agency saying they've been boxed out in the investigation into what happened with with the fatal shooting of Rene Good, the FBI saying they didn't really kind of trust that this joint investigation could be conducted. There's a lot of distrust and a lot of question of what can be trusted. To that point, I wanted to ask you the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was on CNN yesterday with Jake Tapper and throughout that and during the conversation, she said that the officer's life in that encounter was threatened and warranted a lethal response, but then said essentially it's apples to oranges when comparing alleged violence against an officer in Minnesota to the convicted violence against officers that happened during January 6th. Here's just a piece of the back and forth with Jake.

[00:06:32] Speaker 5: Every single one of these investigations comes in the full context of the situation on the ground, and that's one thing that President Trump has been so focused on is making sure that when we're out there, we don't pick and choose which situations are in which laws are enforced and which ones aren't.

[00:06:48] Speaker 6: I just showed you video of people attacking law enforcement officers. Undisputed proof, undisputed evidence, and I just said President Trump pardoned all of them, and you said that President Trump is enforcing all the laws equally. It's just not true. There's a different standard for law enforcement officials being attacked if they're being attacked by Trump supporters.

[00:07:12] Speaker 3: John, what do you see here? What do you think of her reaction?

[00:07:17] Speaker 4: You know, Kate, I think we're having a growing credibility gap at ICE and DHS, right? We're sitting here. It just begins even with who we're arresting. The administration repeatedly says we're arresting only the worst of the worst. The data suggests strongly differently. Here we have before the facts are in, we've made rushed conclusions that this was a proper shooting. Everything was followed despite every available protocol saying you wait for an investigation to be completed. So how do you then have any credibility in the outcome of that investigation whenever the whatever results are done when the secretary herself has repeatedly concluded that without a doubt, this is a you know, it was a valid, you know, justifiable shooting? I guess my point, Kate, is that this is the kind of thing that impairs the ability of ICE to do its job. And this isn't just a partisan thing. And that's part of what concerns me is we've really made ICE more of a political football. Immigration enforcement is always political, but it's about which side are you on? And the problem is ICE is there to defend the entire United States of America. There's a way of doing this without making it so partisan that allows for more effective law enforcement protecting all of us.

[00:08:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's always important to have your perspective and your eloquence always on these very sensitive issues. John, thank you so much.