In his announcement Wednesday, White House "Border Czar" Tom Homan said the modest drawdown of 700 agents from the area is possible thanks to renewed cooperation with county jails in turning over immigrant detainees.
But some local county attorneys continue to push back on the legality of that idea.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, in a statement released Wednesday night, reiterated that local jails hold people before their cases are adjudicated, and that handing them over to ICE would harm victims by robbing them of the court process.
Moriarty goes on to say the Hennepin County Jail does provide legally required information to the Department of Homeland Security, but using taxpayer dollars to further the federal government in civil immigration enforcement is, she says, "inappropriate."
While she says the proposal currently on the table from Homan and DHS would violate state law, there are still ways DHS could arrest people coming out of jails, including obtaining a warrant from a judge.
Statement from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty regarding recent DHS proposals
"Local county jails hold people before their cases are resolved, not after they are convicted. Handing people to ICE before conviction strips our community of the accountability it deserves and harms victims by robbing them of a court process. If a person is convicted, the prison system shares information with ICE.
The Hennepin County Jail already provides legally required information to ICE. Using local taxpayer resources to further assist the federal government in civil immigration enforcement is inappropriate. Additionally, the Basic Ordering Agreements (BOA) proposed by DHS would violate Minnesota state law. Their offer to pay county sheriffs to violate state law is outrageous.
There are legal ways for DHS to arrest people coming out of our jails, such as obtaining a warrant from a judge. Yet they are choosing to pursue illegal pathways."
Legal questions about ICE activity persist nationawide
There continue to be questions across the nation about the legality of the arrests federal agents are carrying out.
U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless there's a likelihood of escape. That ruling from a federal judge also on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction in a proposed class-action lawsuit targeting the Department of Homeland Security's practice of arresting immigrants they happen to come across while conducting ramped-up enforcement operations — which critics have described as “arrest first, justify later.”
The department, which is named as a defendant in the suit, did not immediately comment in response to a request from The Associated Press.
Similar actions, including immigration agents entering private property without a warrant issued by a court, have drawn concern from civil rights groups across the country amid President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts.
In a memo last week, Todd Lyons, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, emphasized that agents should not make an arrest without an administrative arrest warrant issued by a supervisor unless they develop probable cause to believe that the person is in the U.S. illegally and likely to escape from the scene before a warrant can be obtained.
But the judge heard evidence that agents in Oregon have arrested people in immigration sweeps without such warrants or determining escape was likely.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.