WATCH LIVE: Border Czar Tom Homan holds a news conference in Minneapolis on immigration enforcement

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Immigration officers with rifles arrested activists who were tracking their cars Tuesday in Minneapolis, while education leaders described anxiety and fear in Minnesota schools over ongoing federal raids.

Tom Homan is expected to hold a press conference at 9 a.m. EST. Watch the live stream in our video player above.

Both point to continued tension in the Minneapolis area following the departure of senior commander Greg Bovino from the U.S. Border Patrol and the arrival of Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, which followed the fatal shooting of protester Alex Peretti.

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“There’s less smoke on the ground, but I think it’s more chilling than it was last week because of the shift to schools, the shift to kids,” Gov. Tim Walz said, referring to tear gas and other irritants officers are using on protesters.

At least one person who had an anti-ICE message on his clothes was handcuffed while lying on the ground. An Associated Press photographer witnessed the arrests.

ICE agents are changing their tactics

Federal agents in the Twin Cities have recently been making more targeted immigration arrests in homes and neighborhoods, rather than staging them in parking lots. Caravans were harder to find and less aggressive. The alerts in activist group conversations were more about sightings than immigration arrests.

Several cars followed the officers through south Minneapolis after reports of them knocking on homes. The officers stopped their cars and ordered the activists out of the car at gunpoint. Agents asked reporters at the scene to remain at the scene and threatened to use pepper spray.

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Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agents arrested the activists because they obstructed efforts to arrest a man who is in the country illegally.

A federal judge last month placed restrictions on how officers can deal with motorists who follow them but do not impede their operations. The judge said that following customers safely “at an appropriate distance does not in itself create a reasonable doubt to justify a vehicle stop.” But the Court of Appeal set aside the order.

Bovino, who was leading immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and other major US cities, left the city last week, shortly after Pretty’s death, which became the second local murder of an American citizen in January.

Homan, who was sent to Minnesota to succeed Bovino, warned that protesters could face consequences if they interfere with officers.

Operation MetroSurge affects schools

Walz and education leaders held a news conference to say the presence of immigration officers intimidates some school communities. Brenda Lewis, superintendent of Fridley Public Schools in suburban Minneapolis, said she has been followed by ICE agents twice since she spoke publicly on Jan. 27, and that school board members have had ICE vehicles outside their homes.

Lewis, an American citizen, said she saw SUVs with tinted windows and many masked people inside and outside the state. You go on neighborhood patrols near schools with a security guard.

“Students are afraid to go to school, and parents are afraid to leave them,” Lewis said. “Employees come to work wondering if today is the day something happens in one of our buildings.”

He watches: Former Department of Homeland Security Chief Napolitano says there is “no excuse” for the use of excessive force by immigration agents

Fridley, which has Somali and Ecuadorian families, added security, modified drop-off procedures and increased mental health support, she said. Columbia Heights social worker Tracy Cheung said she was coordinating grocery deliveries to school families and looking for volunteers to drive children.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding the teachers’ concerns.

Grand jury seeks communications and records

Meanwhile, Tuesday was the deadline for Minneapolis to provide information to a federal grand jury. It is part of a US Justice Department request for records of any effort to stifle the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. Officials denounced this as a bullying tactic.

“We did nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, but when the federal government uses the criminal justice system as a weapon against political opponents, it is important to stand up and fight back,” said Allie Peters, spokesman for Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey.

She said the city was complying, but did not elaborate. Subpoenas have been issued to other state and local offices run by Democrats, although it is not known if they have the same deadline. People familiar with the matter told the AP that the subpoenas relate to an investigation into whether Minnesota officials obstructed enforcement through public statements.

No release for the man in the Omar incident

Elsewhere, the man accused of spraying apple cider vinegar on Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar will remain in prison. US District Judge David Schultz granted a federal prosecutor’s request to keep Anthony Kazmierczak in custody.

“We simply cannot allow protesters and people — whichever side of the aisle they’re on — to walk up to representatives conducting official business, take over town halls, and assault them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Biggar said Tuesday.

Defense attorney John Fossum said the vinegar posed a low risk to Omar. He said Kazmierczak’s health problems were not properly dealt with in prison and that his release would be appropriate.

A parole order for two men accused of assaulting an ICE officer has failed
Another judge ordered the release of two Venezuelan men accused of assaulting an ICE officer, but ICE officials quickly returned them to custody.

Alfredo Aljorna and Julio Sosa Celis are accused of assaulting the officer on the night of January 14. Sosa-Celis was shot in the thigh by the officer during the confrontation, sparking protests in Minneapolis.

The officer said he was beaten with a broom and snow shovel while trying to subdue and arrest Aljorna after a car crash and foot chase. But the two men denied assaulting the officer. Neither video evidence nor three eyewitnesses supported the officer’s story.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson held a hearing Tuesday in which he denied the government’s appeal of a judge’s order to release the two men on criminal charges. Magnusson ruled they could be released.

But Sosa-Celise’s attorney, Robin Wolpert, said in an interview that when she then went to speak with her client, who was in U.S. Marshals custody, agents told her that ICE had taken him away. She said she’s not sure why, or what their next steps are.

Aljorna’s attorney, Frederick Goetz, said he doesn’t know why ICE took action against his client or its next steps either.

Reda reported from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. AP reporters Ed White in Detroit and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.