Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt denies making deal with feds to trigger end of ICE surge

Operation Metro Surge's apparent end, as described by White House Border Czar Tom Homan, came in part thanks to "unprecedented cooperation" with local jail officials. 

Sheriffs from across the state tell WCCO that whether they have maintained strong policy agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or engage based on minimum legal requirements, the federal operation did not end with any changes to their internal policies.

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt made it clear on Friday that nothing has changed for her or her office. Last week, she indicated that she was considering compromising with Homan and the federal government for the sake of ending the ICE operation. Now that Homan has declared that the surge is over, Witt said that she has not and will not make a deal with ICE. 

"Our policies did not change and I was not pressured, as some have said, to change them. Was I asked? Absolutely," Witt said. 

She has maintained that the jail, which is the largest in Minnesota, would only cooperate with ICE if agents obtained a judicial warrant for an individual's arrest. 

Other sheriffs have made optional agreements with ICE to allow for specialized cooperation. Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang signed two agreements with ICE in 2025, giving ICE the ability to serve warrants inside their jail and for deputies to assist with ICE enforcement. 

Regardless of the level of engagement already in place, more than a dozen sheriffs told WCCO on Friday that the way they work with ICE right now is the way they've worked with them, in some cases, for years. 

"For at least the last 20 years, our office and our jail have cooperated with ICE to the fullest extent allowed by MN law," Benton County Sheriff Troy Heck said. "Operation Metro Surge did not alert the way we interact with ICE. We notify ICE when a person with an active detainer or administrative warrant comes into our custody or is encountered on the street. We notify ICE when a person with a detainer or administrative warrant is going to be released from our custody."

Throughout the operation, federal officials accused people at the county and state levels of obstructing their operations. The Minnesota Department of Corrections pushed back, clarifying for the public that the state prison system works with ICE. Homan agreed that this has always been the case once he became the face of the ICE surge, taking over for Gregory Bovino after Border Patrol personnel shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. 

The Department of Homeland Security in a social media post blamed "sanctuary city politicians" for Cottonwood County's refusal to honor an ICE detainer for a Guatemalan man charged with sexually abusing a child. Cottonwood County Sheriff Jason Purrington put out a press release calling the federal agency's version of events "wholly inaccurate", stating that deputies notified ICE as early as possible about the man's impending release after someone posted bail. Purrington said at the time that ICE told a jail employee that agents were too busy in the Twin Cities to make it to the jail and would "pick him up at a later date." 

Homan said Thursday that ICE agents are now positioned in various places in Minnesota to ensure they can respond to certain jails as quickly as possible.