USCIS-Led Twin Shield Flags 275, 42 Referred

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, with support from ICE and the FBI, led “Operation Twin Shield” in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro, conducting roughly 900–1,000 site visits and interviews over about nine to ten days. Investigators flagged 275 of about 1,000 cases for suspected fraud, ineligibility, or public-safety concerns and made roughly 42 referrals to ICE/notices to appear, with a small number of arrests or detentions. Authorities reported schemes including sham marriages, forged documents, fake death certificates, H‑1B and F‑1 visa abuses, visa overstays, and businesses that could not be found, and said they uncovered troubling patterns in the Uniting for Ukraine sponsorship program. USCIS Director Joseph Edlow called the operation an “all-out war on immigration fraud,” described it as the first of many, and tied it to Trump-era enforcement priorities and a recent USCIS rule expanding the agency’s law-enforcement role. The announcement came as the Justice Department sued Minneapolis and St. Paul over sanctuary policies, and federal officials warned similar targeted crackdowns could be mounted in other cities.