A relatively brief, but eye-catching ICE surge in West Virginia earlier this month netted about 650 illegal immigrant arrests — a two-week, statewide operation that officials said unfolded with little disruption and now stands as a counterpoint to the turmoil surrounding similar enforcement efforts in Minnesota.
From Jan. 5 to Jan. 19, federal agents fanned out across the Mountain State — sometimes working with local law enforcement — targeting illegal immigrants with criminal histories or prior deportation orders, DHS officials told Fox News Digital.
Officials contrast the West Virginia operation with recent tensions in Minnesota, where ICE-related enforcement actions have sparked ongoing protests, surveillance by federal agents and confrontations with law enforcement.
“I think the most important thing to note here is that West Virginia and similar states… have made it very easy for criminal illegal aliens to be picked up and processed by ICE,” West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
Many of America’s safest cities have jurisdictions that help with ice
West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey speaks outside the Supreme Court.
(Getty Images)
Some of the operations even reached the state’s blue-collar Eastern Panhandle, a fast-growing fringe of Washington, D.C., where officials have defined the response as cooperation rather than confrontation.
Read on the Fox News app
There, Jefferson County Sheriff Thomas Hansen confirmed a two-week operation with ICE in his jurisdiction, which includes Charles Town, Harpers Ferry and Summit Point.
“(JCSO) was impressed with the professionalism and work ethic of the agents and how well they interacted with citizens and local law enforcement officials,” Hansen said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
McCuskey said the lack of disruption in West Virginia reflects a cooperative approach that he argued would prevent the kind of disorder seen elsewhere.
“When you contrast that with places like Minnesota, where you have Keith Ellison — who is apparently caught up in a huge fraud scandal involving Somali immigrants, etc., what you see is riots and violence,” he said.
McCuskey suggested that while Minnesota’s leadership of the West Virginia mission cannot blame federal law for its approach, all states still operate under the same immigration laws that have remained intact since the Obama administration.
Trump’s immigration victory in Minnesota court is a win for all law-abiding citizens
An ICE agent standing in front of a house in a residential area.
“All God-fearing Americans believe in immigration. We believe that the promise of this country should be available to those who want to come to America the right way, obey our laws and become a larger part of this incredible quilt that is the American experience,” McCuskey said.
“And if your first act as a hopeful new American is to break our laws, that trust is broken.”
McCuskey also accused Minnesota’s leadership of failing on parallel issues, calling Ellison “porridge” in dealing with social services fraud.
“My office [oversees] Same thing,” he said, noting that West Virginia also has a high proportion of residents on the right but lacks the level of fraud he said plagues Minnesota.
Across the Potomac River from ICE’s Martinsburg sting, Maryland Democrats criticized ICE’s presence in Washington County.
Ice reveals ‘worst’ arrests in just one day after rounding up ‘thugs’ convicted of hate crimes
ICE officials arrested Sagar Singh, an Indian national previously ordered removed, during Operation ICE Wall when he was stopped for failing to perform a mandatory commercial vehicle brake check.
McCuskey called it “a representation of the generalized stupidity of most Democrats in Congress, who have sat on their hands for the past 25 years and done nothing about the immigration laws they are so angry about being enacted.”
Ellison, by contrast, showered protesters with praise at a recent public appearance, calling ICE’s operation a “federal attack” and telling those gathered in the Twin Cities that he “want you to know that I’m here with you, fighting with you, standing with you. Keep fighting, stand strong, don’t back down.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ellison and Gov. Tim Walz for comment, but neither office responded. However, DHS officials said they expect states that cooperate with ICE to see similar success in West Virginia.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said “Work[ing] Together, we can make America safe again.”
DHS told Fox News Digital about similar low-profile ICE operations in Alabama, including an operation near Birmingham that netted a violent illegal immigrant accused of stabbing a federal agent, as well as enforcement actions in other cities reported by local media.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Sen. Tommy Tuberville told Fox News Digital they would continue to welcome federal agents to the Yellowhammer state, with candidate for governor Tuberville, a mayor who has vowed to protect illegal immigrants, “not going to like me very much” if he succeeds Ivey.
Also arrested in the West Virginia sweep were Mexican national Enrique Vergara, convicted of assault with a weapon; Isaias Santos, a Guatemalan national, pleaded guilty to several violent charges; Julian Garza, charged with auto theft; Brian Canellis-Giron, charged with domestic violence and firearms offenses; and Denise Paz-Vallecillo, convicted of child neglect.
Not every Mountaineer leader was on board, however, as West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Mike Puskin — a state representative from Kanawha County — told Fox News Digital they “have to be honest about what’s going on here.”
From Protest to Crime: Lines Minnesota Anti-Ice Protesters May Be Crossing
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison showered protesters with praise in a recent public appearance, calling ICE’s operation a “federal attack.”
“The difference between what you’re seeing in Minnesota and what’s happening in West Virginia isn’t complexity — it’s courage,” Pushkin said, crediting Minnesota leaders for standing up to President Donald Trump.[ing] Due Process and Negligence[ing] Constitution.”
“Republican leaders here won’t even clear their throats — and trying to compare the size and scope of the Minnesota operation to what happened here is silly. It’s like comparing a house fire to a burnt piece of toast and pretending they’re the same emergency,” he said.
Pushkin cited a Clinton-appointed judge’s order that some detainees be released, including two people taken on the West Virginia Turnpike.
“In the words of the court, there was ‘not a shred of evidence to justify the government’s position’ – that should be the headline. That should alarm anyone who cares about liberty or the rule of law,” Pushkin said.
“Minnesota leaders pushed back. West Virginia’s Republican leadership just clicked their feet, saluted, and fell in line.”
Homan announces drawdown of federal presence in Minnesota, welcomes ‘unprecedented support’ from local police
Fox News Digital asked several blue-state leaders about the support contrast but heard back from only one.
A spokesman for California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that if the feds “really care about getting hardened criminals off our streets, they will pick up every person released from our state’s prisons who have been held in immigration detention.”
Click here to download the Fox News app
Diana Crofts-Pellayo said the rate is only one in eight in that regard, saying the Trump administration “wants to instill panic and fear to ensure compliance with a dangerous immigration agenda that threatens the safety, affordability and freedom of Americans.”
A California source familiar with immigration enforcement dynamics there said that immigrants who have committed crimes are subject to certain exceptions that allow local law enforcement cooperation with ICE, particularly those charged with violent crimes.
DHS said cooperation with federal law enforcement is the safest and most effective option for state authorities.
“Sanctuary politicians who refuse to cooperate with DHS law enforcement are wasting law enforcement time, energy and resources, while putting their own constituents at risk,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital, crediting West Virginia officials for allowing for such a swift and effective operation and hoping other states will follow suit.
Original article source: West Virginia deals with ICE – after 650 arrests, officials say Minnesota-style ‘chaos’ is an option
