Minnesota Democratic Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Angie Craig are detailing their visit to the Whipple Building Friday afternoon which has served as the headquarters and detention center for ICE during Operation Metro Surge.
Omar and Craig say the facility was clean - and suddenly empty - when they showed up around 12:00 p.m.
"Every cell, every inch of it was completely empty," detailed Omar. "And when we'd asked, 'why isn't there anyone here,' because we obviously know they've been detaining people, they said the last people left at 11:30. We weren't surprised at what we saw today. We went into the facility and there was not a single detainee that we could see or talk to. Every cell, every inch of it was completely empty."
Craig told reporter that she was told less that 500 ICE agents remain in the state after it was announced last week Operation Metro Surge was wining down. At its height, around 3,000 agents were in Minnesota, more than quadruple the amount of police officers in Minneapolis.
"It seems very convenient that they removed anyone who had been arrested today from the facility 30 minutes before we arrived at the facility," Rep. Craig says. "What we saw today was an incredibly clean facility."
Still, Omar questioned the conditions inside the building prior to their Friday visit. A previous visit by Rep. Kelly Morrison left her questioning the conditions and the lack of medical care for detainees.
"It seems a little too convenient, knowing that our scheduled visit was going to be at 12:00 p.m. and that the last detainees would be transported out of the facility at 11:30," said Omar.