Federal immigration authorities this week began conducting enhanced operations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, a U.S. official told CBS News, targeting a region with a large population of the Somali immigrants President Trump often rails against.

The surge by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expected to target individuals in the Twin Cities area with deportation orders, the official said. The exact scope and duration of the operation are not clear so far.

Late Thursday, ICE released a list of 12 people who have been arrested since Monday, describing them in a news release as "some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens" detained in the Twin Cities operation. Half of the arrestees were from Mexico, five were from Somalia and one was from El Salvador, the agency said

See Full Page