This clip was originally posted by mrcVideo from Stephanie Ruhle’s The 11th Hour on January 27, 2026.
“But I just want to level set for a moment. I want to think again about why the administration is committing this massive surge of agents into the state of Minnesota in the first place, because this state does not have a surge or a huge population of undocumented immigrants. According to a Pew estimate in 2023, Minnesota has about 130,000 undocumented immigrants. They make up about 2.2 percent of the state’s population. But let’s compare that, I don’t know, compared to Texas, which has over 2 million undocumented immigrants there — they make up 6.6 percent of the population. Of course, there’s another key difference between the two. Minnesota voted against Donald Trump three times, and Texas voted for Donald Trump three times. Is that a coincidence?”
Ruhle’s framing suggests that immigration enforcement in Minnesota must be politically motivated because the state has a smaller illegal population than Texas. But that ignores the most important difference: Texas actively cooperates with federal immigration enforcement, while Minnesota restricts it.
Texas works with ICE through state policies, law enforcement cooperation, and border operations. Minnesota’s leadership, by contrast, has challenged and limited ICE cooperation through litigation and policy — maintaining sanctuary-style barriers by restricting routine jail access, declining to honor detainers without warrants, limiting data sharing, and creating friction that forces more resource-intensive federal operations. DHS has repeatedly stated that non-cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions necessitates these more visible, street-level enforcement actions. Texas’s alignment allows quieter enforcement; Minnesota’s resistance increases visibility and resource demands.
Texas is also directly on the southern border, which Minnesota is not. For four years under the prior administration, that border saw record crossings, with millions entering illegally into Texas first before dispersing nationwide. That structural reality explains much of Texas’s larger illegal population. Comparing the two purely on raw numbers or percentages is misleading without acknowledging geography and policy.
Her own numbers do not support the claim of insignificance. An estimated 130,000 illegal immigrants is substantial — larger than the population of many Minnesota cities and comparable to Bloomington or Plymouth.
Ruhle implies retaliation based on voting history. But administration demands — expressed in official letters and policy directives — center on ending sanctuary barriers, sharing data, and basic cooperation with federal law. Compliance reduces the need for visible operations; resistance amplifies them.
What Ruhle leaves out is that these population figures are rough estimates from Pew, MPI, and similar organizations, derived from Census and ACS residual methods that subtract legal immigrants and attempt to adjust for undercounts. These methods miss visa overstays, hidden populations, and individuals who avoid surveys due to fear of their status. Recent Pew analysis shows Minnesota’s estimate increased by roughly 40,000 from 2019 to 2023, meaning even these figures may understate reality.
Minnesota is not targeted because it is “small.” Texas is not spared because it is “large.” The dividing line is cooperation versus resistance — one state works with federal enforcement, the other restricts it. MS NOW wants viewers to see politics. The facts show this is about whether states assist or obstruct federal immigration enforcement.