MPD Reform Progress Threatened by Expanding Federal Immigration Presence
The Minneapolis Police Department continues to make incremental progress under a court-enforced reform agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, but community members say a growing federal immigration presence in the city is eroding trust and threatening those efforts. At a recent community meeting hosted by Effective Law Enforcement for All, residents, advocates, and city leaders raised concerns about MPD cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and warned that delayed reforms could unravel hard-won progress toward accountability and public trust.
The Minneapolis Police Department continues to make incremental progress under a court-enforced reform agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, but community members warn that a large and ongoing federal immigration presence in the city threatens to undermine those efforts.
Effective Law Enforcement for All, the independent evaluator tasked with monitoring MPD’s compliance with the state settlement, held a community meeting Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. Residents and advocates voiced concern that MPD is cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that public trust in police reform is eroding as a result.
ELEFA co-founder David Douglas warned that aggressive federal enforcement tactics mirror the very practices Minneapolis has been ordered to dismantle.
“You have all shown America what happens when law enforcement is grounded in authority and force rather than legitimacy,” Douglas said. “You’ve seen what happens when there’s a warrior mentality that treats the whole community as suspects rather than people to be protected and served.”
Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne described a January encounter with MPD officers following a Jan. 14 federal shooting near the 600 block of 24th Avenue. Federal agents shot and injured 24-year-old Venezuelan national Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and arrested Alfredo Aljorna during that incident.
“I went up to an MPD officer holding the perimeter,” Payne said. “The community was screaming, asking why MPD was collaborating with ICE.”
When Payne asked whether officers had received policy guidance related to the state settlement, he said the officer dismissed it.
“He said it was a 700-page document and that he didn’t have time to read it,” Payne said.
A judge ordered the release of Sosa-Celis and Aljorna on Tuesday, Feb. 4, but immigration agents rearrested them after they exited the courthouse, according to a Star Tribune report. Their attorney later filed a habeas corpus petition seeking to keep them out of federal custody.
According to ELEFA’s most recent report, covering April through September 2025, MPD completed only six policies required under the first year of the evaluation plan. Ten additional policies remain unfinished.
“Without these policies in place, MPD is unable to move forward in developing and implementing quality training,” Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero wrote in a letter addressing the department’s progress.
ELEFA also reported that many officers remain unclear about what the settlement requires or what the evaluator’s role is. Some officers described the reforms as being imposed on them rather than integrated into departmental culture. MPD still lacks formal guidelines for how field training officers are expected to train new recruits.
“Our police department is in desperate need of reputational repair,” said Michelle Gross, executive director of Communities United Against Police Brutality.
CUAPB member Michael Calvin described his experience responding to the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good, who was fatally shot by a federal border agent on Portland Avenue.
“We watched MPD establish a crime perimeter, then suddenly extend it two or three blocks farther south,” Calvin said.
Activist Cortez Rice recounted arriving at the scene on East 26th Street following the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti, who was shot by federal agents Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez, according to ProPublica reporting. Both shootings remain under federal review.
Community members at the meeting criticized Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, saying city leadership has failed to adequately protect residents from masked federal agents accused of conducting warrantless raids, deploying tear gas near schools, and injuring a Black family whose infant was later hospitalized.
“The community has done what we are supposed to do,” Gross said. “We are taking the physical risks. We are paying rent for neighbors, feeding families, and making sure kids get to school safely. Meanwhile, elected officials are not meeting the moment.”
Douglas cautioned that delays in reform can have lasting consequences, citing New Orleans, where progress stalled for years following a cyberattack and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The lesson is to get the work done before additional crises derail it,” Douglas said.
According to community estimates shared at the meeting, there are currently three to four times as many federal immigration agents operating in Minneapolis as MPD officers. During the first 12 days of Operation Metro Surge, MPD officers accumulated approximately $3 million in overtime pay.
As reform deadlines continue and federal enforcement expands, residents warned that Minneapolis risks losing hard-won progress unless accountability, clarity, and leadership are urgently restored.