Federal immigration officers have ramped up what was already considered a significant presence in Minneapolis amid protests in the wake of the shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7. That incident has heightened safety concerns in communities across the state, including Marshall and New Ulm, about what would happen if ICE arrived in town.

Southwest Minnesota law enforcement officials said their focus was on serving their communities, but they could not interfere with federal agencies like ICE.

“The Marshall Police Department, we don’t have authority to enforce immigration laws,” said Marshall Director of Public Safety Jim Marshall. At the same time, Marshall said, local police also couldn’t prevent federal agencies from enforcing those laws.

Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen said county law enforcement was in a similar position.

“Our focus would be public safety in general,” he said.

“Our police department will always protect the public,” said New Ulm Police Chief Dave Borchert. “It doesn’t mean that we can interfere with another agency’s legal process. However, ICE agents are federal law enforcement with jurisdiction within the USA and territories. If we interfered with the legal process of them enforcing immigration, that would simply be inappropriate, unsafe and potentially criminal. Having that said, if an ICE agent breaks any law, then we would take enforcement action against the involved person. Nobody is above the law.”

Borchert said the New Ulm Police Department is working closely with the state of Minnesota in monitoring the situation and attending daily briefings remotely. Those meetings include the attendance of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Superintendent, Police Chiefs and Sheriffs from across the state, and the Commissioner of Public Safety.

Marshall and Wallen said last week, organizations including the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association and the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association hosted informational briefings about the shooting in Minneapolis.

The briefings “have been pretty minimal this week,” Marshall said.

“We do get some email updates where events are happening,” like demonstrations or other events in the Twin Cities, Wallen said.

Marshall said he had not been notified of any current ICE operations in Marshall. However, ICE is not required to notify local police of their activity, he said. Marshall said he knew there had been federal agents in Marshall in the past, but the last time that he was aware of, agents were looking for a specific person who had criminal charges against him.

Wallen said he was not aware of any recent ICE activity in Lyon County, and had not been notified of any. He said he had been contacted by a couple of members of the public about ICE activity. One person was encouraging support of ICE, while another had concerns about how citizens could remain safe, Wallen said.

Presently, there has been no ICE activity in New Ulm, according to Borchert but there was recent ICE activity in Brown County in which people were interviewed but no one was taken into custody and ICE left the area without incident.

“We are getting some of the best and most specific data available at the time,” Borchert said of daily briefings with state and local leaders. “We also openly discuss current challenges and best solutions to resolve them within our jurisdictions. Also, discussion of how we can best work together to best support and protect our residents.”

Usually when ICE is planning a visit, Borchert said they give local law enforcement a heads up, typically a week’s notice. But that has not been currently happening and it is not legally mandatory for ICE to give prior notification.

“I don’t know the rationale; it might simply be that this is a large federal immigration enforcement project and they simply don’t need local help because they have plenty of resources,” he said. ” ICE hasn’t been requesting assistance. However, past practice was to assist them by crowd control and security. We are certainly willing to assist in this capacity and hope to keep everyone safe.”

Marshall, Wallen and Borchert said members of the public shouldn’t physically interfere with officers if ICE is in the area.

“There’s nothing that prohibits a person from observing law enforcement,” or from a person on public property recording law enforcement actions, Wallen said. “But observation means just that, observing from a safe position.”

Wallen said protests or demonstrations should also avoid trespassing.

“It’s important for our community, and for everyone’s personal safety, that people don’t interfere when observing law enforcement activity,” Marshall said. “We don’t want to see people putting themselves in harm’s way.”

“My focus has been about the city of Marshall,” Marshall said. He said he had faith in MPD officers to provide a high level of service to the community.

Borchert said when encountering ICE, it is important to stay calm. For those protesting, any interactions Borchert said should involve staying cool and collected and remaining nonviolent.

“There is no permit required to demonstrate in public within the city of New Ulm,” Borchert said. “However, participants still need to follow Minnesota Law, while demonstrating. For example, protesters shouldn’t block roads or sidewalks (this is against the law). The protester can certainly be standing on the sidewalk but are required by law to allow pedestrians to pass unobstructed. We have had recent protests from a local group in 2025 and they really followed these laws/rules very closely. Overall, the demonstrations were very well run and we had very few/minimal incidents.”

Ultimately, the goal involving any ICE interaction, Borchert said is safety. If an altercation with ICE occurs or a situation is escalating, Borchert recommends calling 911. For residents with concerns or questions, Borchert said call the New Ulm Police.

“Please remain peaceful and calm,” Borchert noted of any ICE interaction. “Unfortunately, things can escalate when individuals react aggressively. We understand that this can be a nervous reaction and explainable; however, it definitely creates unnecessary tension at the time of the incident that hopefully can be avoided.”

— Deb Gau contributed to this story