President Donald Trump’s administration has announced it is “reexamining” thousands of refugee cases in Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services launched a “sweeping initiative reexamining thousands of refugee cases through new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims” in Minnesota since mid December, according to a statement released Friday.
The program has been dubbed “Operation PARRIS,” which stands for “post-admission refugee reverification and integrity strengthening.”
The announcement comes just two days after an ICE agent, identified as Jonathan Ross, shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis while the agency was conducting a large operation in the city. The incident has sparked protests in Minneapolis and other cities across the U.S., including Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.
Just hours after Good was killed, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed agents will continue to operate in Minneapolis and throughout the state.
Operation PARRIS will initially focus on “Minnesota’s 5,600 refugees who have not yet been given lawful permanent resident status (Green Cards).” Officials have already started referring cases to ICE as part of this operation, according to the statement.
A DHS official also referred to Minnesota as “ground zero for the war on fraud” in a statement accompanying the announcement. The Trump administration has focused on Minnesota in recent weeks amid a growing fraud scandal in the state that stretches back years.
“This operation in Minnesota demonstrates that the Trump administration will not stand idly by as the U.S. immigration system is weaponized by those seeking to defraud the American people. American citizens and the rule of law come first, always,” the DHS spokesperson said.
Many of those who have been charged in the fraud cases are of Somali descent, which has prompted Trump to claim that Somali immigrants “ripped off that state.” Trump has also previously referred to Somali immigrants as “garbage.”
Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali population. Most people of Somali descent living in the U.S. are citizens, according to census data reviewed by the Minnesota Reformer.
Some local officials, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have pushed back on the rhetoric used by Trump and his allies.
“You commit fraud in Minnesota, you're going to prison. I don't care what color you are, what religion you are. Anybody who wants to help us in that, we welcome that,” Walz said last month.
“But sitting on the sidelines and throwing out accusations and, let's be very clear, demonizing an entire population and lying to people about the safety and security of the state, is beneath that,” he added.
