(KNSI) – As St. Cloud residents call for Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations to end, the Minnesota Department of Corrections is now disputing the federal government’s claims about how they’ve arrested the worst of the worst.
According to a statement from the Minnesota DOC, at least seven of the 14 individuals the Department of Homeland Security claims were arrested in St. Cloud were actually transferred directly from the Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud to federal authorities, not apprehended in the community as DHS’s messaging suggests.
DHS had claimed the operations removed hardened criminals from St. Cloud’s streets, including individuals with convictions for sexual assault, weapons charges, fraud, theft, and other serious crimes.
In perhaps the most striking case, DHS lists Mauricio Morales-Morales as arrested in St. Cloud for sexual assault convictions. But according to the Minnesota DOC, Morales is still in state custody at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud, serving a sentence that runs until July 31, 2042.
State records show that on June 2, 2025, DOC coordinated Morales’s temporary transfer to a federal court hearing on a writ at the request of Homeland Security. He was returned to state custody on September 24, 2025, to continue serving his state sentence.
The discrepancy goes to the heart of community concerns raised at Monday’s city council meeting. Residents who complained about ICE operations described feeling targeted by federal agents in their neighborhoods. DHS has justified those operations by claiming Minnesota refuses to honor ICE detainers and that aggressive enforcement is necessary to remove dangerous criminals from the streets.
But Minnesota DOC says it honors ICE detainers and coordinates custody transfers every day.
The department says St. Cloud is part of a statewide pattern. DOC has identified 68 cases across Minnesota where DHS claimed community arrests that were actually prison custody transfers.
Statewide, DHS claims to have taken 246 people with serious criminal convictions into custody.
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