Immigration & Legal

Surveillance and bystander videos, document analyses and medical records from multiple Twin Cities incidents have undercut DHS/ICE accounts — showing men running or falling rather than attacking in at least one Minneapolis shooting, revealing a defective St. Paul warrant that led a judge to free six detainees, and documenting a detainee’s skull fractures that contradict ICE’s claim he violently resisted. Separately, DOJ moved to dismiss with prejudice federal assault charges against two Venezuelan men in a Jan. 14 north Minneapolis shooting, citing newly discovered evidence materially inconsistent with the ICE affidavit, a development defense attorneys and rights groups say bolsters calls for independent investigation.

The U.S. State Department will suspend processing of immigrant visas from 75 countries beginning Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, saying the move is intended to prevent entry of people who would “take welfare and public benefits” and to end “abuse of America’s immigration system.” The freeze applies only to immigrant visas (non‑immigrant tourist and business visas are exempt and expected to surge ahead of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics) and affects countries including Somalia, Iran, Russia, Nigeria and Brazil, with Somalia’s inclusion explicitly linked in administration messaging to Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future–related benefit fraud scandals.