Minnesota Now

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testified before U.S. senators Tuesday about the tactics of federal agents in Minnesota. We heard more about what she said during the hearing.

Plus, Google has identified itself as the company behind a proposed data center in Duluth.

And state lawmakers are considering a ban on immigration enforcement agreements between local law enforcement and federal agencies. More on the bill and the arrangements it seeks to outlaw.

We also heard more about the results from a survey looking at the impact of the federal surge on local businesses.

And scholars from across the country met in the Twin Cities this week to talk about what ethical research looks like in a time of funding cuts and artificial intelligence.

A new survey is providing a clearer picture of the challenges businesses across the Twin Cities are facing due to the two-month long surge of federal agents.

Neighborhood Development Center, or NDC, heard from more than 130 businesses and shared the results with a state Senate committee in February. Almost two thirds of respondents said the impact has been “high or critical.” Nearly 80 percent saw emergency financial assistance as the top priority.

Natalia Mercado, director of business services with NDC, shared more of the findings with host Nina Moini.

Over the past year, thousands of federal science grants have been cut or reshaped by the Trump administration. At the same time, artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how studies are designed, analyzed and written.

So, what happens to the ethical guardrails meant to protect patients and public trust when both funding and technology behind scientific research are shifting at the same time?

National experts will convene Wednesday to answer that question at a research ethics conference through the University of Minnesota.

Susan Wolf, conference organizer and regents professor of law and medicine at the University of Minnesota, gave a preview of the gathering.

A bill that would ban Minnesota municipalities from signing immigration enforcement agreements with the federal government got a hearing Tuesday by a state House committee.

If passed, the legislation would prohibit and terminate any agreements with the federal government that gives authority to state, county and local agencies to enforce civil immigration law.

A new national ACLU report shows that since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the number of local municipalities with these so-called 287(g) agreements has grown tenfold. In Minnesota, nine counties have signed agreements.

The bill’s lead author, State Representative Athena Hollins, DFL-St. Paul, and Julio Murphy Zelaya from the ACLU of Minnesota joined Minnesota Now to talk more about the legislation and the report.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended her department's immigration enforcement tactics in front of a Senate committee on Tuesday and pushed back against criticism from Democrats who say she wrongly disparaged two protesters killed by federal officers in Minneapolis earlier this year.

It was Noem’s first congressional appearance since the shooting deaths of the two protesters galvanized widespread opposition to how the Trump administration is executing its mass deportation agenda, a centerpiece policy of President Donald Trump's second term. At the time, Noem portrayed the protesters, two U.S. citizens, as agitators, although accounts from local officials and bystander video contradicted assertions from her and other administration officials.

In one exchange, retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called her leadership a “disaster” and skewered her handling of the immigration crackdown and her management of emergency response.

In the hearing, which stretched nearly five hours, Noem defended her agency’s treatment of immigrants caught up in enforcement activities, and blamed activists and others for attacks against officers.

“I want to address the dangerous environment that our ICE officers face on the streets today," Noem said. “They are facing a serious and escalating threat as a result of deliberate mischaracterizations of their heroic work and rhetoric that demonizes our law enforcement.”

Since the deaths in Minneapolis, the administration has taken steps meant to tone down tensions, including drawing down the operation there. But the administration has continued pressing restrictions against both legal and illegal immigration, has been buying up warehouses for immigration detention and persisting in federal enforcement in areas around the country. Noem said about 650 investigators remain in Minnesota as part of a broader fraud probe.

The immigration tactics of Noem's department have triggered a clash in Congress over its routine funding, which remains unresolved, although a spending bill passed last year granted it a significant infusion of cash for the Republican administration’s mass deportation policy. Noem called the partial shutdown “reckless” and blamed Democrats for a move she said put national security at risk.

Her appearance in front of the Judiciary Committee also comes after a weekend shooting at a bar in Texas that is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism, leading to concerns that the escalating conflict in Iran could have repercussions for security in the U.S.

In what was initially billed as an effort to root out fraud in Minnesota, Homeland Security sent hundreds of officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to the state. They were met by protesters who organized marches, patrolled neighborhoods for ICE activity with whistles and ferried food to immigrants too afraid to leave their homes.

Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, setting off intense protests demanding an end to the operation. Then on Jan. 24, Customs and Border Protection officers opened fire on another Minnesota resident, Alex Pretti, who had been filming enforcement operations.

Those deaths led to cries for accountability and transparency. Noem, whose initial comments portrayed both Good and Pretti as the aggressors, has come under withering criticism by Democrats and some Republicans, who have called for her to resign.

Democrats repeatedly questioned Noem about her initial comments and called on her to apologize.

“You and your agency rushed to brand these victims as, quote, domestic terrorists,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee. “We have ample video evidence and eyewitness testimony proving you are wrong. Your statements caused immeasurable pain to these families.”

Noem said she was relying on information from people on the scene and blamed “violent protesters” for contributing to the chaos officers encountered.

“I was getting reports from the ground from agents at the scene, and I would say that it was a chaotic scene,” she said.

After public outrage over the deaths, Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take control of operations. Homan has since announced a drawdown of the ICE and CBP officers who had been sent to Minnesota to carry out what had been dubbed Operation Metro Surge, although he’s been adamant that the president’s mass deportation agenda will continue.

Republicans largely kept the focus on the large numbers of migrants who came into the country under former President Joe Biden, portraying Noem as the leader of a cleanup effort of the former administration’s mess.

But she did come under some harsh questioning by members of her own party. Tillis, who called on Noem to resign following the shootings in Minneapolis, criticized her for erroneously arresting American citizens, for failures in her disaster recovery agency and for how she shot her own dog.

“What we’ve seen is a disaster under your leadership, Miss Noem, a disaster," Tillis said. “What we’ve seen is innocent people getting detained that turn out are American citizens.”

Tillis, who has already announced that he is not running for another term., added: “We’re beginning to get the American people to think that deporting people is wrong. It’s the exact opposite. The way you’re going about deporting them is wrong."

Another Republican, Sen. John Kennedy from Louisiana, also pushed her to explain why her department paid more than $200 million for an ad campaign she appeared in last year encouraging migrants to leave the country voluntarily and questioned whether Trump knew about the price tag ahead of time.

Noem, who is set to appear Wednesday in front of a House committee, defended those ads, saying they were effective and went through the regular department bidding process.

“Well, they were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy said.

War is escalating in the Middle East after the U.S. and Israel launched a major military attack against Iran over the weekend ... the strikes have killed more than 500 Iranians. More reaction ahead from one Iranian Minnesotan.

A local group says they're hearing widespread stories of Minnesotans being unable to pay their rent as a result of the surge of federal agents in recent weeks. How they're providing support.

And we'll meet a Minnesota GOP leader and Trump backer who's trying to reconcile his political beliefs in light of the Trump Administration’s massive immigration enforcement surge.

Plus, a new design competition begins Monday, allowing students to submit ideas for a future George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Plumes” by HEYARLO and our Song of the Day was “Mississippi” by The Cactus Blossoms.

Design students in Minnesota can submit ideas for a future George Floyd memorial near the intersection of 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis. Floyd’s aunt, Angela Harrelson said in a statement about the contest, “when it comes to honoring George’s legacy, we’re calling on the best of the best to help bring that vision to life.”

After Floyd was murdered by police in 2020, the site became an organic memorial, as people made art and left offerings there. Late last year, the Minneapolis city council approved a plan to reconstruct the area known as George Floyd Square.

The student design contest will run until mid-May. One or more of the winning designs could become a permanent installation.

Two of the people behind the design competition joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini. Niall-Julian Universe is with the nonprofit Rise and Remember, and Anjali Ganapathy is director of undergraduate studies in architecture at the University of Minnesota.

We’ve made it to March, and for college basketball fans, that means one thing: tournaments are around the corner. The Big Ten women’s tournament starts later this week, followed by the men’s. And March Madness tips off a couple weeks from now.

Joining Minnesota Now to talk about where Minnesota teams stand, plus other sports updates, are sports contributors, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson.

Rent was due Sunday, and for some Minnesotans paying it wasn’t possible. Others scraped by, struggling after weeks of economic disruption tied to the recent ICE surge.

In some families, a breadwinner has been deported. In others, people have stopped going to work out of fear, or workplaces have temporarily shut down.

Over the past few months, staff at HOME Line say they’ve heard story after story like these. The organization is a nonprofit that provides free legal help and advocacy for Minnesota tenants.

Jess Zarik is co-executive director of HOME Line, and she joined Minnesota Now to talk about what her team has been hearing, and what she expects in the weeks ahead.

Minnesotans are reacting to war in the Middle East after the United States and Israel launched a major military strike against Iran this weekend, hitting targets across the country that killed the country's supreme leader and multiple government officials. The offensive resulted in widespread destruction, civilian casualties and retaliatory strikes across the Middle East.

Parham Alaei is the co-founder of the Minnesota Committee in Support of a Democratic Iran, a group that organizes Iranian Americans advocating for democracy in Iran. He joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about his reaction to the war.