Department of Justice and Civil Rights

In a Fox News interview Monday, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche claimed federal investigators are uncovering a 'massive underground fraud network' in Minneapolis that he says helped bankroll or organize an abrupt, highly coordinated push to drive ICE out of the city. Blanche asserted that, as DOJ and other agencies moved to clamp down on large‑scale social‑services fraud in Minnesota, 'it turned almost on a dime' into a wave of anti‑ICE protests and that it is 'not just coincidence' that 'massive numbers of protesters and rioters and agitators show up at the same time' to defend what he called a 'profit center for fraudsters.' He said DOJ has 'multiple investigations' open and is making 'progress' tracing funding streams, but did not identify any specific individuals, groups or dollar amounts, and provided no documents or charges to support the allegation. His remarks come amid national scrutiny of Operation Metro Surge, the fatal shootings of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, and a noisy online battle over whether the protests are grassroots or, as some in the Trump administration have repeatedly claimed without evidence, populated by 'paid agitators.' Blanche’s on‑camera comments are the clearest attempt yet by a senior Justice Department official to publicly link the Minnesota fraud scandal to the scale and timing of anti‑ICE activism—claims that, if they remain unsubstantiated, risk being read as political spin rather than law‑enforcement fact.