FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche visited Minneapolis on Friday, according to a post on Patel’s X account.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche visited Minneapolis on Friday,according to a poston Patel’s X account.
The visit comes amid ongoing tensions between immigration officers and activists demonstrating against a surge in federal agents to the city, as well as open conflict between local leaders and Trump administration officialsover the tactics of federal agents.
Patel wrote that his team was “working 24/7 here cracking down on violent rioters and investigating the funding networks supporting the criminal actors with multiple arrests already.”
As CNN has reported, the Trump administration is expected to send around 1,000 additional US Customs and Border Protection agents to Minneapolis in the wake of last week’s deadly shooting involving an ICE officer, according to sources.
The new surge of federal personnel will also include additional FBI agents, sources said, however, the number of FBI personnel involved will be small relative to other agencies.
On Thursday, Patelon social mediareferred to the arrest of an alleged member of the Latin Kings gang who is accused of stealing government property from an FBI vehicle during a recent violent demonstration in Minneapolis.
“There will be more arrests,” Patel wrote, adding “any individual who attacks law enforcement or vandalizes federal property paid for by hardworking taxpayers will be found and arrested.”