St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is defending the presence of the city's police department during a federal immigration operation, which escalated to a standoff between protestors and officers in a residential area of the Payne-Phalen neighborhood on Tuesday.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contacted St. Paul Police after they attempted to detain a man who fled to a house on the 600 block of Rose Avenue East around 9 a.m. Tuesday. Those agents reported that "someone had thrown rocks and bricks at them," according to the mayor.

Carter held a press conference on Tuesday evening to clarify that it will never be a St. Paul officer's job to enforce federal immigration policy, but officers still have the responsibility of ensuring public safety.

"Anytime there's a report in

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