Inside Minnesota’s deportation court since Trump took office

ICE agents have sent hundreds of unauthorized immigrants to Minnesota jails during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, nabbing construction workers, restaurant staff, roofers, college students and entrepreneurs.

Many were not considered enough of a flight risk or threat to people and property to keep them locked up. In 78 bond hearings observed by the Minnesota Star Tribune in the past three months, 50 immigrant detainees were granted bond.

The majority are from Latin America, though some came from as far away as Turkey, China and Bangladesh. Some knew hardly anyone in this country, while many had extensive networks. Most crossed the southern border; others overstayed visas. Yet by the time some reached an immigration judge, their stories were linked by the weight of despair.

The Star Tribune sat in on the majority of the case hearings for detainees at Fort Snelling Immigration Court since late January, observing 96 who were ordered deported and three granted voluntary departure. It was not uncommon for people to be given removal orders at their own request, after they decided to forgo legal representation or not fight their case.

Most of those ordered deported had been in the country only a few years and said they had no fear of returning home, leaving no legal pathway to stay in the United States. Many others pursued various forms of relief in closed hearings — most immigration proceedings are not public — making it difficult to form a comprehensive picture in Minnesota of how many people have been caught up in Trump’s push for mass deportations and arrests of undocumented people.

An Ecuadorian father of three with a pregnant wife defended his string of recent theft offenses: “I didn’t have a way to feed my children — I didn’t have any job,” he said.

The man was arrested in March for sexual assault but claimed the accuser was trying to extort money from him. After Immigration Judge Kalin Ivany denied him voluntary departure and ordered him deported, he thanked her “because it’s awful being here.”

But others were heading the other way, trying to escape into Canada.

A young Cuban man illegally migrated to the United States in December right after being released from jail, and said he tried to go to Canada three months later because he was afraid of the mass deportations in America.

A Haitian paroled into the United States in 2024 was jailed in mid-April after she was apprehended trying to cross into Canada. Her lawyer said she received an email from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) saying she had to leave the country and tried to comply with the order.

When Immigration Judge Sarah Mazzie asked if the email was legitimate, an attorney for DHS said she didn’t know the particulars of the woman’s case — one of many instances showing the confusion playing out amid heightened immigration enforcement.

Trump promised to start by detaining immigrants who have criminal records, a longstanding policy that ICE has continued in Minnesota. One detainee was convicted of fentanyl smuggling in California; another was found guilty of conspiracy to launder money in Arizona. An Ivory Coast native had a conviction of conspiracy to engage in drug trafficking in North Dakota; she said she suffered from traumatic brain injury after being shot five times.

Other detainees had charges for robbery, domestic abuse and sexually molesting children and adults.

Yet many others have also been swept up in so-called “collateral arrests” while authorities were targeting someone else. (Immigrants can be a target of ICE because they were charged with crimes or have an existing deportation order.)

The median bond approved in the hearings observed by the Star Tribune was $5,000. The highest was $25,000.

An Ecuadorian father was released with a $4,000 bond after receiving letters of support from his local parish outreach director, a teacher and others. His attorney, Cameron Giebink, said he helped an elderly couple in his north Minneapolis neighborhood rehab their home, had no criminal record and turned himself in when ICE was arresting someone nearby.

One man was granted a $3,000 bond this month, having had only a $20 ticket for failing to turn off his car’s high-beam lights while driving. The detainee who appeared after him was granted a $1,500 bond — the minimum allowed — and had encountered police just once, while driving without a license. The man‘s attorney, Sierra Paulsen, described him as an honest and dependable father of four who works in construction.

In some cases, employers wrote in support of undocumented workers. Olive Garden said in a letter that the restaurant was invested in developing the potential of a detained Mexican employee, and that he was hardworking and dependable.

DHS also appeared to mix up cases amid the flurry of lockups.

Attorney Christian Ndikum told the court that ICE came looking for the landlord of a property and wound up arresting his client, an Ecuadorian man living there, who worked as a framer and carpenter and had no criminal record.

But a DHS attorney argued against the man receiving bond, deeming him “somewhat of a danger to society.” She said he drove without a license, drove without insurance and had substantial speeding tickets.

“Where are you getting this information from?” Mazzie demanded. “I don’t see that.”

Authorities have jailed immigrants from across the globe.

One Russian said he feared returning to his home country because he is a Jehovah’s Witness, a banned religion there. A Bangladeshi man who entered on a student visa was charged with assault in 2023; he was granted a $7,500 immigration bond.

A Chinese man was detained in Minnesota following a theft offense, and had crossed the Mexican border in 2023 after being repeatedly denied student visas. A Burkina Faso national’s student visa was terminated after he stopped attending school, and he said his U.S. citizen wife hadn’t filed a petition on his behalf due to financial issues. In the meantime, the man filed for asylum.

A Liberian denied bond because of his aggravated robbery conviction said that if he returns to his homeland, “I’ll get killed — I’m gay.” A citizen of Micronesia was convicted last year of second-degree assault in southern Minnesota and his attorney said in court filings that he was working on his sobriety; he was ordered removed in February.

ICE has detained some people who have spent decades here.

Another immigrant had lived here since 1991, owned a business that employed 34 people and had 63 letters of support sent to the court; he was jailed following a drunk driving charge in which his car was not in motion.

Meanwhile, an immigrant father of two American-born children who resided in the U.S. for more than 30 years had been building houses in North Dakota. He was arrested by ICE on his way back home to Chicago. Authorities pulled over the speeding vehicle in which he was a passenger and found he was undocumented.