The top Minnesota prison official on Wednesday denied the Trump administration's claims that the state is blocking federal immigration enforcement, saying state correctional institutions cooperate with ICE and that federal officials have provided inconsistent figures on detainees subject to immigration holds.
Paul Schnell, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, told CBS News that DHS allegations that the state is releasing dangerous offenders instead of transferring them to federal custody are "fundamentally false."
"We cooperate with ICE and ICE detainers," Schnell said. "We have, as a matter of policy, done that for a long, long time. How they can say otherwise is unbelievable."
Schnell added, "We cannot explain how those numbers square. And nobody is sitting down with us to explain it."
He said his agency has asked DHS to reconcile competing figures, but, "To date, no one has shown us where we failed." He also said, "If we made a mistake, we would own it."
The dispute centers on ICE detainers, federal requests asking local law enforcement to hold a person for up to 48 hours after a scheduled release so immigration officers can decide whether to take the person into custody to begin deportation proceedings.
An ICE official, Marcos Charles, said this week that Minnesota authorities should turn people over "in a safe, controlled setting like a jail or prison instead of releasing them back onto the streets," warning releases put communities "where your children go to school" at risk.
Schnell said a statewide survey found 207 people in Minnesota state prisons and 94 in county jails who were subject to ICE detainers, 301 total. That was far below the 1,360 detainers federal officials cited publicly, he said.
Minnesota corrections data also shows 84 people were transferred directly from state prisons to ICE custody in 2025.
At a separate news conference last month, Schnell accused DHS of repeating "inaccurate and misleading" information and said the agency had provided "no data, no data source, no tracking methodology" supporting its larger figure.
"At worst, it is pure propaganda," Schnell said, calling it "numbers released without evidence to stoke fear rather than inform the public."
The public fight has unfolded as the federal government has poured resources into the Minneapolis area under Operation Metro Surge, a large immigration enforcement push that has triggered protests and scrutiny after the deaths of two U.S. citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, during encounters involving federal agents.
White House border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday that 700 federal immigration agents would leave Minneapolis, though about 2,000 would remain.
Homan has argued that increased cooperation with detention facilities can reduce street operations. "More agents in the jail means less agents on the street," he said recently, according to Axios.
Schnell, while disputing DHS's public claims, said day-to-day coordination between corrections staff and ICE personnel continues. "Staff to staff, operationally, this is working exactly the way it should," he said. "Rhetoric doesn't solve anything. Facts do."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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