Lawmakers shot, ICE operations and ongoing fraud investigations: Minnesota's top political stories of 2025
Two Minnesota lawmakers and their loved ones attacked in their homes, federal immigration enforcement operations targeting Somali immigrants and continuing fraud investigations — these were some of Minnesota's top political topics in 2025.
Here's a breakdown of some of this year's defining moments, presented in no particular order.
Outrage, grief after Minnesota lawmaker shootings
Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were injured in what federal and state officials characterized as politically-motivated shootings in June.
Melissa and Mark Hortman were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home, while John and Yvette Hoffman were shot around 5 miles away in their Champlin home.
The attacks spurred a manhunt involving federal, state and local law enforcement for the suspected shooter, Vance Boelter. He was taken into custody less than two days after the shootings near his home in Green Isle, Minnesota.
Boelter has since been federally charged on six counts, which include murder, stalking and firearms violations. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in August. He's also been charged by the state with two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Court documents show Boelter's then-wife told an investigator they were "preppers," meaning they "prepare for major or catastrophic incidents." She says her husband gave her a "bailout plan" before the attacks. She subsequently filed for, and was granted, a divorce.
State records show that Boelter served two consecutive three-year terms on the Minnesota Governor's Workforce Development Board. He was first appointed by then-Gov. Mark Dayton in 2016 and was reappointed by Gov. Tim Walz three years later.
"The Governor does not interview applicants for these roles and he does not know Boelter," Walz's office said in a statement to WCCO. "They are not appointments to a position in the Governor's cabinet. These boards and commissions have no authority to make decisions, change laws, or implement policies."
Minnesotans and state and federal lawmakers mourned the loss of Melissa and Mark Hortman in the weeks following the attacks. Melissa Hortman represented Minnesota House District 34B as a member of the Democratic Party. She was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 2004 and was in her 11th term.
Federal immigration enforcement operations reach Minnesota
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations targeting Somali immigrants began in the Twin Cities earlier this month. The actions started a day after President Trump said, "I don't want [Somalis] in our country."
On Thanksgiving, Mr. Trump, in a social media post, used a slur usually directed at people with intellectual disabilities to describe Walz, used racially and religiously prejudiced language against Rep. Ilhan Omar and said that Somali refugees are "completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said its agents have arrested more than 400 people since "Operation Metro Surge" began. It's unclear how many of those 400 are still detained or have been sent elsewhere.
ICE agents have conducted operations in several cities around the metro. In Brooklyn Park, a coffee shop owner said agents lied to one of his employees before detaining him. WCCO reached out to ICE to ask what charges the employee faces and why he was detained, but has not heard back.
Minneapolis city leaders said on Dec. 10 that a U.S. citizen was wrongfully arrested by ICE agents because he looks Somali. WCCO reached out to ICE for a response to the accusation, but has not heard back.
Federal agents also gathered outside a home construction site in Chanhassen, where two men were atop an aerial work platform. One of the men came down after nearly two hours, and the other didn't come down until after the agents left. DHS officials say the men first climbed atop the roof after they "fled from a vehicle and entered a construction site," and claim the first man to come down from the roof had entered the country illegally from El Salvador in 2019. He is now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Omar, a Democrat, told WCCO in an interview on Dec. 14 that her son was pulled over by federal agents and asked him to prove his citizenship. ICE's Acting Director Todd Lyons said the agency has "absolutely zero record of its officers or agents pulling over Congresswoman Omar's son" and accused her of trying to "unfairly demonize our law enforcement officers." Omar then responded, "ICE has long operated as a rogue agency beyond reform. It's no surprise that an agency known for disappearing people also can't keep its records straight. ICE now claims it has records of all the stops, and our office would welcome the opportunity to review them."
Residents have clashed with ICE agents on several occasions since the operations began, including in south Minneapolis and the city's Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Thousands of others have marched in protest of the federal actions.
Court documents said a federal agent was briefly kidnapped in Plymouth while conducting surveillance at an apartment complex, looking for a man who allegedly overstayed his student visa. Two people have been federally charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees in the incident.
Trump voices support for Lindell's bid for governor
Mr. Trump voiced support for Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of MyPillow, at a rally on Dec. 20 in North Carolina.
Lindell, 64, has joined a crowded Republican field seeking to unseat Walz in 2026. Mr. Trump said Lindell "deserves to be governor of Minnesota" after the myriad legal and financial woes the businessman dealt with in his quest to push conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
"That man suffered. What he did, what he went through, because he knew the election was rigged. And he did it. I mean, he just did it as a citizen," Mr. Trump said.
Noem delivers bonus checks to MSP Airport TSA employees; union calls move illegal
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in November to deliver $10,000 bonus checks to Transportation Security Administration officers, some of whom worked during the 43-day federal government shutdown.
Local 899 Airport Screeners Union said the bonuses were illegal and only rewarded 7% of the MSP workforce. WCCO asked Noem why some staff were excluded from the bonus, and she said they went to staff nominated for the reward.
Rep. Emmer calls for ethics investigation into Rep. Craig's town hall stops
Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer in April called for federal lawmakers to launch an ethics investigation into Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota.
Craig and several other Democratic lawmakers across the country were making town hall stops in GOP-led districts in April to highlight the absence of Republican leaders at local events during the first months of President Trump's second term.
Emmer and fellow House Republican delegation members Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber, sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics and the Committee on House Administration urging a review of possible ethics violations by Craig.
"While her Republican colleagues have refused to show up and answer to their constituents in person, Representative Craig is actively showing up in their districts," Craig's office said.
Investigations into fraud in Minnesota reach new scrutiny
The Feeding Our Future scandal, the nation's largest COVID fraud scheme, garnered renewed focus from the Trump administration this year.
Somali Minnesotans are among the nearly 80 charged in connection with the scheme, in which prosecutors say defendants stole hundreds of millions of dollars that were supposed to be used to feed hungry children during the pandemic.
Mr. Trump has criticized Minnesota over the controversy, calling the state a "hub of fraudulent money laundering activity" and claiming "Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great state and billions of dollars are missing."
Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson suggested earlier this month that the total amount of fraud in Minnesota could be $9 billion or more. Walz and other state officials disputed that the amount of taxpayer money stolen is that high.
In late December, Homeland Security agents in Minneapolis were "conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud," according to Noem. Many of their targets came not from tips from the FBI, but from a viral video posted on social media. The video alleged nearly 12 day care centers in the state that are receiving public funds are not actually providing any service. CBS News conducted its own analysis here.
Amid the investigation and Thompson's accusation that fraud in the state could be $9 billion or more, Minnesota House and Senate Republicans called on Walz to resign. In response, the governor's office said Walz has been working for years to crack down on fraud and has asked the state Legislature for more authority to take aggressive action.
On Dec. 13, Walz unveiled a new statewide fraud prevention program, naming former FBI agent Tim O'Malley as the new director of program integrity. Republican State Sen. Jordan Rasmusson said, in response to the announced program, a "statewide director of program integrity isn't something you need when your commissioners are doing their jobs well in the first place."
Special elections held after Eichorn and Mitchell resign
Minnesota officials held two special elections, in April and on Election Day in November, to fill the seats of former state senators Justin Eichorn and Nicole Mitchell.
Eichorn, a Republican from Grand Rapids, resigned in March in the wake of a federal criminal charge accusing him of soliciting sex from someone he thought was 17, but turned out to be an undercover cop. He is charged federally with attempted coercion or enticement of a minor, and pleaded not guilty to the charge in April.
Mitchell resigned in July after she was convicted of first-degree burglary and possession of burglary or theft tools for breaking into her stepmother's Detroit Lakes home in April 2024. The former Democratic state senator represented parts of Woodbury and Maplewood.
Republican Keri Heintzeman beat Democrat Denise Slipy to replace Eichorn in Senate District 6 in a special election held on April 29. Six months later, on Election Day, then-state Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jager defeated Republican Dwight Dorau for Mitchell's former seat in Senate District 47.
A special election for Hemmingsen-Jager's former House District 47A seat is set for Jan. 27.