Crow Wing County jail houses dozens of ICE detainees at a time. Here's a look at the conditions inside
Most of the 4,000 people that the Department of Homeland Security says they've arrested since the start of Operation Metro Surge are taken to the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis.
Some go out of state, and the rest go to a handful of Minnesota county jails that have agreements with the federal authorities.
The Crow Wing County jail started accepting ICE detainees in November 2025. The county sheriff, Eric Klang, says that oftentimes, they're brought in a few at a time.
"We have anywhere from 50 to 30 detainees at any one time, give or take. I mean, they're coming and going all the time," said Klang.
Klang explained that the people on ICE detainers are booked in like anyone else in jail. They can shower when they arrive, and they will get new clothes.
"They get a color based on what classification they are, so if they're in here on assault or something, that's violent, and they can get a certain set of clothes so they're easily identified," he said. "They'll be given a room, and they'll be able to, you know, use their iPad and talk to their families, FaceTime their families, or FaceTime the lawyers."
Klang says he knows the decision to work with ICE is controversial. It's caused tension in the community and with relatives.
"It's a very heated, very divisive topic, you know. I've been in law enforcement for 30 years. I've, you know, I've always worked with our local, state, federal, I am going to continue to do that," Klang said.
When WCCO asked him whether the people the jail is housing for ICE have a criminal history, Klang said that some do.
"Sometimes they'll have, they have assaults or something like that on there that we'll get notified of, just for clarification purposes," he said. "So we know where to put them, but the majority of them, we don't know if they have anything."
"Should you know who you're housing in your jail?" WCCO's Jennifer Mayerle asked Klang.
"Yes we should, and we do the best with the information that we have," he said. "They're not the, they're not violent. They're, they're very cooperative, they're very compliant."
Klang says that the "worst of the worst" that the Trump administration says they're going after are not in the Crow Wing County Jail.
People who are on ICE detainers wear a green band on their wrists. They lined up to share their stories, eager for someone to listen. They also said they are treated well in the jail, shown respect, and say they also give respect in return.
"So what I can do, on my part, is every, all of our illegal immigrants that are here in our jail, we have treated them with the utmost respect," said Klang. "They're coming from all over the place, and we want them to have a good experience while they're here, if there's such a thing."