Minneapolis was the scene of a significant federal operation as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently arrested numerous unauthorized migrants with serious criminal convictions.
ICE officials disclosed the apprehension of individuals labeled as high-risk offenders in Minnesota, a state with sanctuary policies, where these individuals had been living freely despite convictions for grave offenses such as child sexual assault, homicide, and other violent crimes, while federal agents faced resistance from protesters outside an ICE facility in Minneapolis.
The issue has sparked intense debate over sanctuary policies and federal enforcement priorities.
According to Fox News, among those detained are individuals with extensive criminal histories, including Sriudorn Phaivan, a Laotian national with convictions for multiple sexual offenses against children and a litany of other crimes, and Tou Vang, also from Laos, convicted of horrific acts against a minor.
Others, like Gilberto Salguero Landaverde from El Salvador and Thai Lor from Laos, carry convictions for multiple homicides, yet have remained in the community under deportation orders dating back years.
The list goes on with names like Hernan Cortes-Valencia from Mexico, convicted of child assault, and Abdirashid Adosh Elmi from Somalia, tied to a homicide case.
ICE Director Todd M. Lyons didn’t mince words, stating, “Regardless of staged political theatrics, ICE is going to continue to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota and elsewhere.”
Well, if local leaders think photo ops with protesters are more important than community safety, they might want to reconsider who they’re shielding with these sanctuary rules.
Outside the Minneapolis ICE center, tensions flared as protesters confronted federal agents, a vivid display of the friction between local policies and national security efforts.
Lyons added, “ICE’s arrests prevent recidivism and make communities safer, but it feels like local politicians want to ignore that part and drum up discontent rather than protect their own constituents.”
One has to wonder if these elected officials would feel the same if their own neighborhoods housed individuals with rap sheets this horrifying—perhaps a reality check is overdue.
The Department of Homeland Security even shared a pointed image on X of a plane with the caption about lawbreakers departing Minneapolis, signaling no retreat from enforcement.
While some argue sanctuary policies protect vulnerable communities, the presence of individuals convicted of child rape and multiple killings in these same communities raises serious questions about who’s truly being safeguarded.
It’s hard to ignore the pattern—deportation orders spanning decades for some of these individuals, yet here they were, free to potentially harm again, until ICE stepped in despite the political pushback.
