NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n A relatively brief, but lucrative ICE surge into West Virginia netted roughly 650 illegal immigrant arrests earlier this month \u2014 a two-week, statewide operation officials say unfolded with little disruption and now stands as a counterpoint to the turmoil surrounding similar enforcement efforts in Minnesota.<\/p>\n From Jan. 5 through Jan. 19, federal agents fanned out across the Mountain State<\/a> \u2014 at times working with local law enforcement \u2014 targeting illegal immigrants with criminal histories or prior deportation orders, DHS officials told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n Officials involved contrast the West Virginia operation with recent tensions in Minnesota, where ICE-related enforcement actions have sparked sustained protests, surveillance of federal agents and confrontations with law enforcement.<\/p>\n “I think the most important thing to notice here is that West Virginia and similarly situated states \u2026 have made it very, 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.<\/p>\n MANY OF AMERICA\u2019S SAFEST CITIES ARE IN JURISDICTIONS THAT COOPERATE WITH ICE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey speaks outside the Supreme Court.<\/span> (Oliver Contreras\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some of the operations even reached the state\u2019s bluer-tinged Eastern Panhandle, the fast-growing exurb of Washington, D.C., where officials say cooperation, not confrontation, defined the response.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “The (JCSO) was impressed with the professionalism and work ethic of the agents and how well they interacted with the citizens and local law enforcement officers,” Hansen said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n McCuskey said the lack of disruption in West Virginia reflected a cooperative approach that he argued prevented the kind of disorder seen elsewhere.<\/p>\n “When you contrast that with places like Minnesota, where you have Keith Ellison \u2014 who’s obviously embroiled in a massive fraud scandal<\/a> involving Somali immigrants, et cetera, what you see is riots and violence,” he said.<\/p>\n McCuskey suggested the West Virginia mission shows Minnesota\u2019s leadership can no longer blame federal law for its approach, noting that all states still operate under the same immigration statutes that have remained intact since the Obama administration.<\/p>\n TRUMP\u2019S IMMIGRATION VICTORY IN A MINNESOTA COURT IS A WIN FOR ALL LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n An ICE agent is seen standing in front of a house in a residential area.\u00a0<\/span> (Victor J. Blue\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “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, follow our laws, and become great parts of this incredible quilt that is the American experience,” McCuskey said.<\/p>\n “And if your first act as a hopeful new American is to break our laws, that trust has been broken.”<\/p>\n McCuskey also accused Minnesota\u2019s leadership of failing on parallel issues, calling Ellison “dalliant” in confronting social services fraud.<\/p>\n “My office [oversees] the same things,” he said, noting West Virginia also has a high proportion of residents on entitlements but lacks the level of fraud he says plagues Minnesota.<\/p>\n Just across the Potomac River from ICE\u2019s Martinsburg sting, Maryland Democrats lambasted ICE\u2019s presence in Washington County.<\/p>\n ICE REVEALS ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ARRESTS IN JUST ONE DAY AFTER ROUNDING UP ‘THUGS’ CONVICTED OF VILE CRIMES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n ICE officers arrested Sagar Singh, an Indian national previously ordered removed, during Operation ICE Wall after he was stopped for failing to clear a mandatory commercial vehicle brake check.<\/span> (ICE)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n McCuskey called that a “representation of the generalized idiocy of most of the Democrats in Congress, who have sat on their hands for the last 25 years and done nothing about the very immigration laws that they’re very angry about being enforced.”<\/p>\n Ellison, by contrast, showered protesters with praise at a recent public appearance, calling ICE’s operations a “federal invasion” and telling those assembled<\/a> in the Twin Cities that he “wanted you to know that I was here with you, fighting with you, standing with you. Keep fighting, stand up strong, don\u2019t back down.”<\/p>\n Fox News Digital reached out to Ellison and Gov. Tim Walz<\/a> for comment, but neither office responded. DHS officials, however, said they expect states that cooperate with ICE to see similar success to West Virginia.<\/p>\n Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said “work[ing] together can make America safe again.”<\/p>\n DHS told Fox News Digital of similarly low-profile ICE operations in Alabama, including activity near Birmingham that netted a violent illegal immigrant accused of stabbing a federal agent, along with enforcement actions in other cities reported by local media.<\/p>\n Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Sen. Tommy Tuberville told Fox News Digital they will continue to welcome federal agents in the Yellowhammer State, with Tuberville, a candidate for governor, quipping that one mayor who has pledged to protect illegal immigrants “won\u2019t like me very much” if he succeeds Ivey.<\/p>\n Those arrested in the West Virginia sweep included Mexican national Enrique Vergara \u2014 convicted of assault with a weapon \u2014 Guatemalan national Isaias Santos \u2014 convicted of several violent charges \u2014 Julian Garza, charged with auto theft; Brayan Canelis-Giron, charged with domestic violence and gun offenses; and Dennis Paz-Vallecillo, convicted of child neglect.<\/p>\n Not every Mountaineer leader was on board, however, as WVDP Chair Mike Pushkin \u2014 a state delegate from Kanawha County \u2014 told Fox News Digital people “have to be honest about what\u2019s really going on here.”<\/p>\n FROM PROTEST TO FELONY: THE LINES MINNESOTA ANTI-ICE AGITATORS MAY BE CROSSING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison had previously come under fire from Republicans for his ties to climate groups before the massive welfare and social services fraud scandal rocked the state.\u00a0<\/span> (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “The difference between what you\u2019re seeing in Minnesota and what\u2019s happening in West Virginia isn\u2019t complicated \u2014 it\u2019s courage,” Pushkin said, crediting Minnesota leaders<\/a> with standing up to President Donald Trump<\/a> “trampl[ing] due process and ignor[ing] the Constitution.”<\/p>\n “Republican leaders here won\u2019t even clear their throats \u2014 and trying to compare the size and scope of the Minnesota operation to what happened here is just silly. That\u2019s like comparing a house fire to a burnt piece of toast and pretending they\u2019re the same emergency,” he said.<\/p>\n Pushkin cited a Clinton-appointed judge\u2019s order that some of the detainees be released, including two men picked up on the West Virginia Turnpike.<\/p>\n “In the court\u2019s words, there wasn\u2019t \u2018a shred of evidence to justify the government\u2019s position\u2019 \u2014 that should be the headline. That should alarm anyone who cares about freedom or the rule of law,” Pushkin said.<\/p>\n “Minnesota leaders pushed back. West Virginia\u2019s Republican leadership just clicked their heels, saluted, and fell in line.”<\/p>\n HOMAN ANNOUNCES DRAWDOWN OF FEDERAL PRESENCE IN MINNESOTA, HAILS ‘UNPRECEDENTED COOPERATION’ FROM LOCAL POLICE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Fox News Digital also asked several blue-state leaders about the cooperation contrast but heard back from only one.<\/p>\n A spokeswoman for California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> said that if the feds truly cared about getting “hardened criminals off our streets, they would pick up every person released from\u00a0our state prisons that have immigration detainers placed on them.”<\/p>\n![\"WV](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1200\/675\/jb-mccuskey-at-court.png?ve=1&tl=1\")
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