Good morning. Digging this February warmup. 

Today is shaping up as a significant moment in the arc of the immigration pressure Minnesota has been under. Tom Homan, the top border adviser to President Donald Trump, will speak at 8 a.m. amid indications another big removal of federal agents is close. MPR News will air it live and stream video of the news conference online. Earlier this week, Gov. Tim Walz told reporters he was convinced the operation’s end was at hand “within days.” This will show whether Walz was overly optimistic or his sense was grounded in something more concrete. Walz is due to speak to the press at 9:45 a.m. while rolling out an aid proposal for people and businesses financially hurt by the two months of intense federal presence.

The shouting, in both directions, took precedence over the substance in a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday featuring Attorney General Pam Bondi. She tangled repeatedly with Democratic lawmakers questioning her over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, immigration actions, the killings of two Minnesotans, the charging of Don Lemon and others, and the assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman. The Epstein matter will be thoroughly dissected by the national press, so we’ll focus on the Minnesota-specific exchanges of note:

• Several lawmakers brought up Minnesota investigators being sidelined in the Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti fatal shootings: Bondi deflected many of those questions, but replied to one lawmaker about the Pretti shooting, “What I will say is we are looking at everything to shed light on what happened that day. And it is an ongoing and active investigation. Both of those cases, I assure you, will be investigated.”

• On fraud allegations in Minnesota: “It’s not only rampant in Minnesota. It’s rampant throughout this country,” Bondi said, assuring the committee, “we are working on it actively. Our criminal fraud division has been working on it.”

• Bondi defended the prosecution of independent journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon over a St. Paul church protest: She said met with the pastor of Cities Church. “It was heartbreaking for those (worshipping) families. They were terrified." She said the cases show no one is above the law and a federal law barring interruption of faith services shouldn’t be ignored. “On my watch, it won’t.” 

• The attorney general was asked about a social media post by President Donald Trump amplifying a conspiracy theory about Hortman’s killing that falsely suggested involvement by Gov. Tim Walz: “I am not familiar with that statement,” Bondi said.

Minnesota’s turn on Capitol Hill isn’t over for the week. Today, four leaders from the state are before a Senate committee. U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer and state House GOP leader Harry Niska will testify about immigration efforts in Minnesota and their assertion that state and local authorities should be doing more to assist federal agents. Attorney General Keith Ellison and Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell are also on the testimony list and are likely to talk about what is being done on that front. The hearing starts at 8 a.m. and it can be viewed via C-SPAN. Later in the morning, a contingent of Minnesotans opposed to the ICE operation will hold a press conference in Washington, D.C., about their call to stop funding to the Department of Homeland Security unless there are tactical and procedural changes for agents written into law.

The state launched a new fact-checking site to correct “misleading information” and outright false claims about Medicaid fraud in Minnesota. The Minnesota Department of Human Services is looking to combat many claims that have been made by influencers and some officials about the scope, scale and effects of phony billing claims made to the state by fraudulent providers over the last several years. The new website’s initial posts aim to debunk claims about the amount of money that has been lost to fraud, that cases of fraud are unique to Minnesota or that YouTube videos uncovered new information about fraud. The site includes responses to each of those claims. The site is a part of an ongoing effort by state leaders to show the state is actively responding to fraud and to deflate some of the political fervor around the issue. Republicans panned the new site as "another clear example of how the Walz administration attempts to downplay and ignore the massive fraud they have enabled," in the words of state Rep. Kristin Robbins, who is also a candidate for governor.

Set-up of new weapons detection technology has started at the Capitol ahead of the launch next week. Scanners were put up in the tunnels connecting the Capitol to the Minnesota Senate building and the Judicial center, along with the ground floor entrance to the building yesterday. And more are expected at public entryways in the building ahead of the start of the legislative session. The Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security recommended the screening earlier this year and said it could prevent potential security threats. Gov. Tim Walz and Senate leaders announced last month that they would implement the technology at the Capitol and Senate Building through the end of the legislative session and could be extended if lawmakers approve funding to keep them. Those with a permit to carry would be allowed to possess firearms in both buildings. Although members of the public won’t be allowed to carry in the Senate gallery unless they’re licensed peace officers. They’ll have to pass through another security scanner to access the gallery. 

Alex Rodriguez appears ready to play a long(ish) game when it comes to entering Minnesota’s nettlesome sports facility wars. The new Timberwolves/Lynx co-owner has made no secret he wants a new arena to replace the 35-year-old Target Center. When fresh pro sports owners come to town, they often come with visions of gleaming new facilities with hopes of getting taxpayers to chip in. MPR’s senior economic contributor Chris Farrell asked Rodriguez about it this week at a Carlson School of Management speakers series event. The former baseball player told Farrell that a new basketball arena is a “necessity” to compete in today’s NBA. Rodriguez said he and the ownership group are pursuing private financing options but didn’t rule out approaching lawmakers for help. Rodriguez said it is a five- to seven-year proposition.

A longstanding boundary dispute related to the Mille Lacs Reservation has local officials seeking more intervention by the federal government. Mille Lacs County’s board of commissioners has approved a resolution asking the U.S. Interior Department to take back a legal opinion that confirmed the boundaries of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s reservation. MPR’s Melissa Olson reports that it’s just the latest twist in the long-running border feud . The resolution seeks to upend an Obama-era opinion; the county could find a more-favorable audience in the Trump administration. The band said it is “deeply disappointed” to reopen what it believed was a settled matter.

Attorneys for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid are pushing lawmakers to continue Minnesota’s ban on using seclusion rooms for young learners in schools. Seclusion is the involuntary confinement of a child with disabilities, typically for behavioral reasons, alone in a public school building. The practice was banned for students from kindergarten through third grade in 2023, but attorneys for Legal Aid said some lawmakers could try to end that ban this session. The group released a report showing the conditions of 80 of those rooms across the state. Attorney Jessica Heisler said she’s often seen lawmakers confuse seclusion rooms — which she says are mostly small, cinderblock rooms with concrete floors — with calming rooms, which are classroom size rooms that have toys, tools and swings to help a child work through intense emotions. A bill drafted last session would have reinstated seclusion rooms for young learners.