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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Thursday there is no new agreement with the federal government allowing county jails to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of inmate release dates, disputing claims made earlier by border czar Tom Homan.
“I did not make, and could not have made, any agreement with him about how sheriffs share with ICE information about people in their county jails,” Ellison said in a statement.
Ellison’s office said Minnesota law requires state prisons — not county jails — to notify federal authorities when a person without legal status is convicted of a felony.
County jails, by contrast, are independently operated by sheriffs and counties, which decide on their own whether to cooperate with ICE release notifications or detainer requests.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison denied making an ICE deal with border czar Tom Homan. (Reuters/Tim Evans)
Earlier Thursday, Homan said Ellison told him that county jails may alert ICE to the release dates of criminal public safety risks.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the matter.
Homan was sent to Minnesota on Monday and vowed to remain in the state while leading ICE operations “until the problem is gone,” referring to increased unrest in Minneapolis. He made the statement during a news conference Thursday morning, his first since President Donald Trump sent him to the region.
Homan claimed to have had a “very productive” meeting with Ellison. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
During that news conference, Homan also said he had a “very productive” meeting with Ellison, adding that the state’s top attorney agreed to notify ICE when local jails were releasing violent illegal aliens — a major request from federal law enforcement.
“One ICE agent can arrest one bad guy when he’s behind the safety and security of a jail when he’s behind bars and we know he doesn’t have weapons,” Homan said. “But when you release that public safety threat illegal alien back into the community – we have a job to do. We’re going to arrest him, so we’re going to find him.”
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Homan was deployed to Minnesota amid growing unrest and discontentment with federal law enforcement in the state. (Jamie Vera/Fox News)
“So now what happens is now we’ve got to arrest somebody on his turf where he has access to who knows what weapons,” Homan explained. “Now we’ve got to send a whole team out.”
He also demanded that the “hostile rhetoric” and threats against ICE officers stop, vowing that agents will remain in the Twin Cities to do their jobs.
“President Trump wants this fixed, and I’m going to fix it with your help,” Homan said.
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Trump deployed Homan to Minnesota after heated clashes between anti-ICE agitators and federal agents across the Twin Cities. The unrest resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of law enforcement.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
