2026-02-03T06:05:00-0500 / CBS新闻
明尼阿波利斯 — 亨内平县治安官达瓦娜·维特表示，在双子城（指明尼阿波利斯和圣保罗）的联邦移民打击行动中，她感觉自己“被当作替罪羊”，但同时也表示愿意与移民当局进行有限度的合作。
维特称，特朗普政府高调开展的移民行动给当地治安官的副手们造成了压力，加深了社区内的创伤，并破坏了明尼阿波利斯居民与身着各种制服的执法人员之间的信任。
在此之前，维特从未公开讲述自己的立场，但在联邦移民局特工突袭明尼阿波利斯和圣保罗之后，她接受了首次面对面采访，向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网讲述了“地铁行动”及其对亨内平县执法部门的影响。
“我们确实被当作了替罪羊。我在寻找真正寻求解决方案的人，那些真正理解谈判含义、明白这不是一方通吃的人，让我们一起解决问题。”
特朗普政府官员多次指责明尼苏达州的地方和州官员不与移民执法部门合作，将数百名危险罪犯释放到街头，而不是移交给联邦移民局特工。明尼苏达州惩教部专员称这些指控“从根本上是错误的”。
“我们与美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）和ICE拘留请求（detainers）进行合作，”保罗·施内尔本月早些时候在接受哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网采访时表示，“作为一项政策，我们长期以来一直这么做。”拘留请求是联邦当局要求地方执法部门在罪犯刑满释放后最多拘留48小时，以便ICE决定是否将其拘留并启动驱逐程序。
维特驳斥了她的办公室不与联邦合作伙伴合作的说法，指出多年来，酒精、烟草、火器和爆炸物管理局（ATF）、缉毒局（DEA）、美国法警署和国土安全调查局（HSI）的特遣队中，副手们一直合作开展打击人口贩卖和性剥削的刑事调查。
但她也明确划清了界限：“我们不进行民事或移民执法，我们从未这么做过。”
当被问及白宫边境事务负责人汤姆·霍曼要求亨内平县允许进入其监狱时，维特反驳道：“我们已经公开了囚犯名单。但如果你想让我们拘留某人，就需要法官签署逮捕令。”
她说，霍曼警告她，可能会有“太多”这样的囚犯需要司法逮捕令。维特对此嗤之以鼻。
“太多是指谁？全州县监狱的拘留请求不到100份。如果这都算多，那么问题就不是治安官——而是整个系统。”
维特还认为，地方治安官不应成为联邦失败的后盾，但她表示，她和霍曼都同意移民系统从根本上已经崩溃。
“我们只是在如何解决这一问题上存在分歧，”她说。
尽管如此，她还是为有限度的合作留有余地。这位明尼苏达州最大县（明尼阿波利斯所在县）的治安官表示，她正在考虑是否在释放被指控犯有“最严重罪行”（谋杀、强奸和暴力重罪）的人之前通知ICE。
“但我们不会在法庭命令释放后再拘留任何人一分钟，”维特强调，指出法律责任问题，“如果我们延迟释放，就会面临诉讼。”
维特补充说，她担心那些试图侵害社区的罪犯正试图利用明尼阿波利斯人手不足、资源紧张的执法队伍。“我们不能忽视这样一个事实：这里仍然发生着犯罪，有些人正试图利用这场混乱从中获利。”
对亨内平县执法部门而言“疲惫不堪”的两周
维特表示，过去两周对她的副手们来说“疲惫不堪”，他们被部署在惠普尔联邦大楼周围，与“地铁行动”相关的抗议活动仍在继续。除了情感和身体上的消耗，经济成本也很高。
“我们的加班费已超过50万美元，”维特说，这些资金原本要从一个本就人手不足且正在进行正式人员配置研究的部门中挪用。
亨内平县是明尼苏达州人口最多的县，拥有该州最大的监狱。维特表示，该监狱大多数时候的容量约为85%。她补充说，监狱中超过90%的在押人员因暴力重罪被拘留。
“我们的监狱没有空间关押仅因民事移民违规而被指控的人，”她直言不讳地表示。
明尼阿波利斯挥之不去的致命枪击案阴影
没有什么比亚历克斯·普雷蒂（Alex Pretti）的致命枪击案更能凸显亨内平县信任危机的了。当被问及她对这段视频的反应时，维特说：“人们一直在拍摄我们。普雷蒂先生本不该死去。”
她继续说道：“拍摄不能成为开枪的理由。这简直荒谬至极。”
周一，亨内平县法医办公室裁定亚历克斯·普雷蒂的死亡为凶杀案。
“我无法理解，在这个最崇高的职业中，怎么会有人认为这种行为是可以接受的，”维特说，“我们需要更多执法人员站出来对此发声。”
信任已彻底破裂
维特表示，过去几周在双子城的一些联邦特工的行为已经损害了她的社区。
“所有执法部门——地方、州、联邦——的声誉都因一些人的行为而受损，”她指出。
维特补充道，她的办公室收到了关于联邦特工行为的投诉，她身旁的一叠选民电子邮件和通话记录日志也证实了这一点。
“我们都看到了。这太荒谬了。这损害了他们的声誉，也损害了我们的声誉。”
维特提出了一个问题：“那些好警察会怎么样？那些一直做得对的人，现在却因为自己没做过的事情而受到指责？”
她补充道：“当‘地铁行动’结束后，将由地方当局来清理这个烂摊子。”
霍曼曾表示他正在制定从明尼苏达州撤离联邦特工的计划，但维特表示她尚未看到任何证据。
“我们正在剥夺他们的未来”
在哥伦比亚高地学区因可信威胁关闭一天后，维特不再以治安官的身份发言，而是以一位母亲的身份。当描述自己在该学区担任特殊教育助理教师的女儿所目睹的情况时，她的声音哽咽了。
“我们一直在谈论创伤——而现在我们正经历着，”她说，“我们难道没有吸取任何教训吗？”
根据学区的说法，自去年12月行动开始以来，至少有6名学生被联邦移民当局拘留，其中包括利亚姆·拉莫斯（Liam Ramos）。这个5岁的厄瓜多尔学龄前儿童在联邦法官周末下令将其送回之前，被ICE特工逮捕，与父亲一起在德克萨斯州南部的移民拘留中心被关押了一周多。
“我们正在伤害这些孩子，我们正在剥夺他们的未来，”维特说，“我们知道明尼苏达州——我们已经落后得更远了。这是我们最不需要的。我们的孩子应该在学校感到安全，他们需要知道自己会安全回家，他们的家人是安全的。他们不应该在这么小的年纪就担忧成年人的烦恼。这将对他们产生长远的影响。”
维特补充说，该县许多学校都请求提供援助和额外的设施巡逻。
当被问及联邦官员是否听取了家长和家庭的担忧时，维特直言不讳地说：“如果他们听到了，我没看到。我只听到‘这是你们的错——蓝州、蓝城’。不——这是所有人的错。”
批评者指责维特通过部署副手和国民警卫队在联邦法院附近而支持ICE。维特反驳道：“惠普尔大楼是我的主要巡逻区域，”她说，“这是我的工作。”该大楼内设有包括移民法庭和ICE拘留设施在内的联邦办公室。
她补充说，她的存在是为了降级冲突并保护抗议者的第一修正案权利。
“2020年人们问‘警察在哪里？’，现在我们来了——人们却指责我们帮助ICE。”
尽管如此，她表示许多居民感谢她维持抗议活动的和平。“我们保护生命、财产和自由——即使人们很愤怒，”维特说。
思考需要改变的方向
展望未来，维特希望“合适的人”——包括明尼阿波利斯美国检察官——能够明确什么是合法的，什么是不合法的，以及为了让联邦特工从双子城撤离，现实中需要做哪些改变。她还与全国的治安官和前联邦检察官取得联系，以协调相互冲突的法律解释，作为幕后协调者推动变革。
“我的首要任务是确保我的社区安全——就这么简单，”维特说。
她承认，她的城市仍在感受到2020年5月明尼阿波利斯警察杀害乔治·弗洛伊德（George Floyd）的影响，并坦言她一直担心这种长期的、激进的联邦行动会带来的后果。
“如果这种情况继续下去，孩子们会成长为认为对执法部门的恐惧是正常的，”她说，“这不能成为常态。”
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt says she feels “scapegoated” by feds but is open to some cooperation
2026-02-03T06:05:00-0500 / CBS News
Minneapolis — Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt says she’s felt “scapegoated” during the federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities — but also says she’s open to limited cooperation with immigration authorities.
Witt says the Trump administration’s high-profile immigration operation has caused strain on local sheriffs deputies, deepened trauma within her community and shattered trust between Minneapolis residents and law enforcement wearing every uniform.
Until now, Witt had not publicly told her side of the story, but in her first sit-down interview since federal immigration agents descended on Minneapolis and St. Paul, Witt spoke with CBS News about “Operation Metro Surge” and its effect on Hennepin County law enforcement.
“We’ve definitely been scapegoated. I’m looking for people who really are looking for solutions, people who really know the meaning of negotiation and understand it’s not a one-side-takes-all, and let’s do this together.”
Trump administration officials have repeatedly accused local and state officials in Minnesota of not cooperating with immigration enforcement and of releasing hundreds of dangerous criminals into the streets rather than turning them over to federal immigration agents. The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections called these claims “fundamentally false.”
“We cooperate with ICE and ICE detainers,” Paul Schnell told CBS News in an interview earlier this month. “We have, as a matter of policy, done that for a long, long time.” Detainers are federal requests to local law enforcement to detain individuals for up to 48 hours after they’re set to be released from criminal confinement — which gives ICE time to decide whether to take them into custody to begin deportation proceedings.
Witt rejects claims that her office won’t work with federal partners, noting that for years, deputies on task forces with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals, and Homeland Security Investigations have partnered on criminal investigations into human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
But she also drew a firm boundary. “We do not do civil or immigration enforcement. We never have.”
Asked about White House border czar Tom Homan’s blanket request that Hennepin County allow access to her jails, Witt countered, “ We already make our roster public. But if you want us to hold people, get a judge to sign a warrant.”
Homan, she said, warned her that there might be “too many” such inmates for judicial warrants. Witt scoffed at that suggestion.
“Too many for who? There are fewer than 100 detainers in county [jails] statewide. If that’s too many, then the problem isn’t sheriffs — it’s the system.”
Witt also argues that local sheriffs should not have to act as the backstop for federal failures, but says both she and Homan agree the immigration system is fundamentally broken.
“We just don’t agree on how to fix it,” she said.
Nonetheless, she has left the door open to limited cooperation. The sheriff of Minnesota’s largest county, home to Minneapolis, says she’s considering whether to notify ICE before releasing people accused of the “worst of the worst” crimes: murder, rape and violent felonies.
But “we will not hold anyone one minute past their court-ordered release,” Witt said emphatically, citing legal liability. “If we slow-walk releases, we get sued.”
Witt added that she is concerned that criminals looking to prey on her community are seeking to take advantage of Minneapolis’ busy and overstretched law enforcement ranks. “We can’t take our eyes off the fact that there are still crimes happening right here, and there are people looking to see how they can capitalize on all this madness.”
An “exhausting” two weeks for Hennepin law enforcement
The past two weeks, Witt said, have been “exhausting” for her deputies, who have been deployed around the Whipple Federal Building as protests tied to “Operation Metro Surge” continue. In addition to the emotional and physical costs, the price tag is steep.
“We are over $500,000 in overtime expenses,” Witt said. The funds have been diverted from a department that was already understaffed and undergoing a formal staffing study.
Hennepin County is Minnesota’s most populous county, home to the state’s largest jail, which Witt says operates at roughly 85% capacity on most days. More than 90% of those incarcerated there, Witt added, are held on violent felony charges.
“We don’t have room in our jails for someone whose only offense is a civil immigration violation,” she offered bluntly.
The fatal shooting haunting Minneapolis
No moment underscored the crisis in trust in Hennepin County more than the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. Asked about her reaction to the video, Witt said, “People film us all the time. Mr. Pretti should not be dead.”
She continued, “Filming is not justification to shoot someone. That is absolutely absurd.”
On Monday, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled the death of Alex Pretti a homicide.
“I can’t fathom where in one of the most noble professions that becomes acceptable,” Witt said. “We need more people in law enforcement to speak up about that.”
Trust already shattered
Witt says the actions of some of the federal agents in the Twin Cities over these past several weeks have damaged her community.
“The reputation of all law enforcement — local, state, federal — is tarnished by the behavior of some,” she observed.
Witt added, with visible frustration, that complaints about federal conduct have reached her office, as she referenced a stack of constituent emails and call logs next to her.
“We’ve seen it. And it’s ridiculous. It hurts their reputation, and it hurts ours.”
Witt posed this question: “What happens to the good cops? The ones doing everything right who now get blasted for something they didn’t do?”
She added, “When Operation Surge is done, it’s going to be local authorities who have to clean up this mess.”
Homan has said he’s working on a plan for a drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota, but Witt said she has yet to see evidence of that.
“We are robbing them of their futures”
After the Columbia Heights School District closed for a day over a credible threat, Witt spoke not as a sheriff, but as a mother. Her voice tightened as she described what her own daughter, who works as a special education assistant teacher in that district, has witnessed.
“We talk about trauma all the time — and here we are,” she said. “Haven’t we learned anything?”
According to the school district, at least six students have been detained by federal immigration authorities since the surge began in December, including Liam Ramos. The five year old Ecuadorian preschooler was held for more than a week with his father at an immigration facility in south Texas after being arrested by ICE agents before a federal judge ordered his return over the weekend.
“We are traumatizing these kids. We are robbing them of their futures,” Witt said. “We know that Minnesota – we have fallen further behind. This is the last thing we need. Our kids should go to school and feel safe. Our kids need to know that they’re going to come home and their families are safe. They should not be having the worries of adults at their young age. It’s going to have an everlasting impact on them.”
Witt added that many schools in her county have requested assistance and additional patrols around facilities.
Pressed on whether federal officials were listening to the concerns of parents and families, Witt offered bluntly: “If they are, I haven’t seen it. All I hear is, ‘This is your fault — blue cities, blue states.’ No — it’s everybody’s fault.”
Critics have accused Witt of siding with ICE by deploying deputies and the National Guard near the federal courthouse. Witt pushed back.
“The Whipple building is my primary patrol area,” she said. “That’s my job.” The building houses federal offices including an immigration court and ICE detention facilities.
She added that her presence has been about de-escalation and protecting protesters’ First Amendment rights.
“People asked in 2020, ‘Where were the police?’ Now we’re there — and people accuse us of helping ICE.”
Still, she said many residents have expressed gratitude to her for keeping protests peaceful. “We protect life, property, and liberty — even when people are angry,” Witt remarked.
Figuring out what has to change
Looking ahead, Witt wants the “right people” at the table — including the U.S. attorney from Minneapolis — to clarify what’s legal, what isn’t, and what must realistically change to enable a drawdown of federal agents from the Twin Cities. She’s also reached out to sheriffs across the country and to former federal prosecutors to reconcile conflicting legal interpretations, acting as a behind-the-scenes conduit for change.
“My top priority is to keep my community safe — period,” Witt said.
She acknowledged that her city still feels the impact of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police in May 2020, and admitted that she worries constantly about the repercussions of a drawn out, aggressive federal surge.
“If this continues, kids will grow up thinking fear of law enforcement is normal,” she said. “That cannot be the norm.”