Todd Blanche says in a new interview that it’s not a ‘coincidence that these massive numbers of protesters and rioters’ showed up at the same time.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche suggested on Feb. 2 that an organized group is behind the protests in Minnesota following the Trump administration’s launch of its operation targeting fraud in the state.
Last month, two protesters were shot and killed during separate incidents by federal agents amid demonstrations over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol operations in Minneapolis and elsewhere in the state.
The operation was intended, in part, to target massive federal entitlement fraud, according to President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
After the shootings, protesters and rioters came out in greater numbers against federal agents’ presence in Minneapolis, and the two incidents triggered a nationwide debate over the administration’s mass deportation plans.
“We had a massive fraud going on all through Minneapolis, all through Minnesota, and suddenly it turned. It turned almost on a dime, and it became suddenly all about ICE, all about getting ICE out and how horrible ICE was doing,” Blanche told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham in an interview on the evening of Feb. 2.
Blanche said that the federal government received “very strong pushback when we raised our hands and said, ‘Stop,’ so, yes, we have multiple investigations going on.”
“It’s not something we’re going to do overnight,” he said.
“But … it’s not just coincidence that these massive numbers of protesters and rioters and agitators show up at the same time, and they’re pushing back on what has been a profit center for fraudsters.”
In the interview, Blanche did not indicate where or how the Department of Justice (DOJ) would target those networks he referenced.
Last week, Trump sent his border czar, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis to take control of operations, displacing Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who was in charge of the enforcement plan in the city and others in recent months.
The DOJ said it had also opened a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting death of protester Alex Pretti last month. The other protester who was shot was Renee Good, who allegedly hit an ICE agent with her SUV.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Feb. 2 that agents in Minneapolis would have to wear body cameras in a bid to enhance transparency.
