Frederick Melo, Reporter (TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press)
@frederickmelo.bsky.social
A Boston transplant turned longtime City Hall/urban news reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota (twincities.com) but my true claim to fame is I wrote this 3-part comic book: https://fredmelosupervillains.thecomicseries.com
Pinned
St. Paul woman, Inver Grove Heights teacher charged in ICE encounters
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests and 14 others on X, calling them “Minnesota rioters.”
www.twincities.com
"MINNESOTA RIOTERS"?": Nasra Ahmed and Christina Rank, an Inver Grove Heights paraprofessional, were arrested (again) on Wednesday and are federally charged in separate incidents. STORY BY NICK FERRARO www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/i...
HOT FILL!: Why is Mayor Her so happy? In the war on winter potholes, St. Paul just spent $15,000 for a used asphalt recycler. That could make a 13,000 ton difference… www.twincities.com/2026/01/29/p...
Pothole season in full effect — and so is St. Paul’s new asphalt recycler
The Bagela, purchased for $15,000 from the city of Minneapolis, will recycle 13,000 tons of asphalt into hot pothole fill
www.twincities.com
January 30, 2026 at 4:24 AM
HOT FILL!: Why is Mayor Her so happy? In the war on winter potholes, St. Paul just spent $15,000 for a used asphalt recycler. That could make a 13,000 ton difference… www.twincities.com/2026/01/29/p...
UPDATE: Dept. of Homeland Security says Thao, originally of Laos, is being held at the federal Whipple Building under an order for removal dating to 2010. Here's raw cell phone video of his detainment, recorded by a fellow staffer at the community center: youtu.be/eseyAjDphY4
January 29, 2026 at 8:27 PM
UPDATE: Dept. of Homeland Security says Thao, originally of Laos, is being held at the federal Whipple Building under an order for removal dating to 2010. Here's raw cell phone video of his detainment, recorded by a fellow staffer at the community center: youtu.be/eseyAjDphY4
Here's the right link. Copy and paste is hard: www.mnhs.org/media/news/m...
January 29, 2026 at 6:05 PM
Here's the right link. Copy and paste is hard: www.mnhs.org/media/news/m...
OPERATION PARRIS ON HOLD?: A federal judge orders lawful refugees who are in the pipeline for Green Cards to be flown back to Minnesota and released in humane conditions. White House is not loving Judge Tunheim's temporary restraining order: www.twincities.com/2026/01/29/f...
Federal judge orders lawful refugees to be flown back to Minnesota, released
The 32-page order was issued Wednesday in response to a class action lawsuit against the Homeland Security initiative dubbed Operation PARRIS. It called for the immediate release of refugees detain…
www.twincities.com
January 29, 2026 at 6:04 PM
OPERATION PARRIS ON HOLD?: A federal judge orders lawful refugees who are in the pipeline for Green Cards to be flown back to Minnesota and released in humane conditions. White House is not loving Judge Tunheim's temporary restraining order: www.twincities.com/2026/01/29/f...
HEY CONFUSED NATIONAL MEDIA: Federal Whipple Building at Fort Snelling has nothing to do with Minnesota Historical Society. Archivists don't deport people. Put your finger on the cartoon golfer and follow it up to marker that says Hwy. 62. Whipple is right around there: www.mnhs.org/.../mnhs-sta....
January 29, 2026 at 4:20 PM
HEY CONFUSED NATIONAL MEDIA: Federal Whipple Building at Fort Snelling has nothing to do with Minnesota Historical Society. Archivists don't deport people. Put your finger on the cartoon golfer and follow it up to marker that says Hwy. 62. Whipple is right around there: www.mnhs.org/.../mnhs-sta....
Thao Xiong, a volunteer delivery driver for the food shelf at the Hallie Q. Brown Center in St. Paul, was detained by federal agents this morning in the city-owned center's parking lot www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/s...
St. Paul activist Thao Xiong taken by ICE at Hallie Q. Brown Center
Federal immigration agents detained a volunteer food shelf delivery driver on Wednesday in the parking lot of the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center on St. Paul’s Kent Street, city-owned proper…
www.twincities.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:00 AM
Thao Xiong, a volunteer delivery driver for the food shelf at the Hallie Q. Brown Center in St. Paul, was detained by federal agents this morning in the city-owned center's parking lot www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/s...
"MINNESOTA RIOTERS"?": Nasra Ahmed and Christina Rank, an Inver Grove Heights paraprofessional, were arrested (again) on Wednesday and are federally charged in separate incidents. STORY BY NICK FERRARO www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/i...
St. Paul woman, Inver Grove Heights teacher charged in ICE encounters
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests and 14 others on X, calling them “Minnesota rioters.”
www.twincities.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:28 AM
"MINNESOTA RIOTERS"?": Nasra Ahmed and Christina Rank, an Inver Grove Heights paraprofessional, were arrested (again) on Wednesday and are federally charged in separate incidents. STORY BY NICK FERRARO www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/i...
WINTER SNARL-NIVAL: Team USA's elaborate snow sculpture is disassembled in Stillwater after spelling "ICE OUT" and other pro-peace, ant-ICE messages in American Sign Language www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/t... Story by @MaryEDivine
Team USA snow sculpture in Stillwater removed over ‘ICE out’ messaging
The World Snow Sculpting Championship work by Team USA included messages spelled out in American Sign Language.
www.twincities.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:54 PM
WINTER SNARL-NIVAL: Team USA's elaborate snow sculpture is disassembled in Stillwater after spelling "ICE OUT" and other pro-peace, ant-ICE messages in American Sign Language www.twincities.com/2026/01/28/t... Story by @MaryEDivine
St. Paul, Roseville, West St. Paul, Minneapolis and other cities receive DEED environmental clean-up grants for redevelopment sites like Face 2 Face on Arcade Street, which will become affordable housing for homeless youth www.twincities.com/2026/01/27/s...
St. Paul, Roseville, West St. Paul among clean-up grant recipients
DEED grants include $2 million in clean-up funding at Roseville’s Twin Lakes Technology Center
www.twincities.com
January 27, 2026 at 8:38 PM
St. Paul, Roseville, West St. Paul, Minneapolis and other cities receive DEED environmental clean-up grants for redevelopment sites like Face 2 Face on Arcade Street, which will become affordable housing for homeless youth www.twincities.com/2026/01/27/s...
The University of Minnesota, Fairview Health and M Physicians (the U’s medical facility) announce a 10-year, three-way agreement that keeps the M Health brand alive and invests $1 billion in the U of M Medical Center across the next decade. www.twincities.com/2026/01/26/u...
U of M, Fairview and M Physicians reach 10-year agreement after mediation
The University of Minnesota, Fairview Health Services and M Physicians — the U of M medical school faculty organization — have reached a three-way, 10-year mediated agreement that keeps…
www.twincities.com
January 26, 2026 at 8:59 PM
The University of Minnesota, Fairview Health and M Physicians (the U’s medical facility) announce a 10-year, three-way agreement that keeps the M Health brand alive and invests $1 billion in the U of M Medical Center across the next decade. www.twincities.com/2026/01/26/u...
For lawful refugees who fled oppressive regimes, lockdowns and police stops based solely on ethnicity and other barbarisms, America was supposed to be different — and better. The land of the free, it’s no longer: www.twincities.com/2026/01/25/r...
For some refugees, immigration actions in Twin Cities are familiar
For many refugees of all backgrounds, confronting the same types of militarized operations and detainments that made them flee their homelands has been retraumatizing.
www.twincities.com
January 25, 2026 at 4:54 PM
For lawful refugees who fled oppressive regimes, lockdowns and police stops based solely on ethnicity and other barbarisms, America was supposed to be different — and better. The land of the free, it’s no longer: www.twincities.com/2026/01/25/r...
Reposted by Frederick Melo, Reporter (TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press)
When you lose dads from Prior Lake , Woodbury and Bloomington, this week in MN . Ground sifts beyond politics into fairness , freedom and human rights.
🔥 From @statuscoupnews.bsky.social : “This is nuts. What the fuck is going on? I’ve never protested in my life… they tell you it’s immigrants — it’s fucking anybody. They’re just trying to scare people. I’m not paid to be here. I have to work in the morning. This is wrong.”
January 15, 2026 at 4:54 PM
When you lose dads from Prior Lake , Woodbury and Bloomington, this week in MN . Ground sifts beyond politics into fairness , freedom and human rights.
...and in everyday downtown economic development news, the St. Paul Port Authority is offering grants of $50,000 to $150,000 to businesses within a little under a mile in any direction from the Minnesota State Capitol building... www.twincities.com/2026/01/23/p...
St. Paul Port Authority offers $50,000 to $150,000 grants to businesses near Capitol
Eligible businesses are those that are situated between Marion Street and Jackson Street, and between Pennsylvania Avenue and the Minnesota History Center on West Kellogg Boulevard.
www.twincities.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:05 PM
...and in everyday downtown economic development news, the St. Paul Port Authority is offering grants of $50,000 to $150,000 to businesses within a little under a mile in any direction from the Minnesota State Capitol building... www.twincities.com/2026/01/23/p...
(I mean, this search took 60 seconds using the online state prison offender locator. Try it yourself: coms.doc.state.mn.us/publicviewer...)
January 23, 2026 at 3:55 PM
(I mean, this search took 60 seconds using the online state prison offender locator. Try it yourself: coms.doc.state.mn.us/publicviewer...)
After federal agents forced a U.S. citizen into the snow wearing only crocs and boxers, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Tweeted he lived with two sex offenders. He does not. One has been in state prison for over a year. The other lives out of state. www.twincities.com/2026/01/23/d...
DOJ says Hmong grandfather lived with sex offenders — but one has been in state prison for months
Lue Moua, who previously was homeless, has been in state prison in Faribault since September 2024.
www.twincities.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:49 PM
After federal agents forced a U.S. citizen into the snow wearing only crocs and boxers, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Tweeted he lived with two sex offenders. He does not. One has been in state prison for over a year. The other lives out of state. www.twincities.com/2026/01/23/d...
Armstrong and Allen will go home today after processing and not be detained…
We are at the federal courthouse in St. Paul waiting to hear if there will be criminal charges against Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen and others for disrupting a church service. www.twincities.com/2026/01/22/t...
Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong arrested following St. Paul church protest
Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, a St. Paul School Board member, have reportedly been arrested following an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a St. Paul church service.
www.twincities.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:21 PM
Armstrong and Allen will go home today after processing and not be detained…
We are at the federal courthouse in St. Paul waiting to hear if there will be criminal charges against Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen and others for disrupting a church service. www.twincities.com/2026/01/22/t...
Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong arrested following St. Paul church protest
Activist Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, a St. Paul School Board member, have reportedly been arrested following an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a St. Paul church service.
www.twincities.com
January 22, 2026 at 6:56 PM
We are at the federal courthouse in St. Paul waiting to hear if there will be criminal charges against Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen and others for disrupting a church service. www.twincities.com/2026/01/22/t...
Non-citizens in the state prison system measure in the hundreds, not the thousands, according to state officials, who have repeatedly called federal tallies incorrect. “DHS claims that ‘ICE has more than 1,360 arrest detainers for criminal illegal aliens... www.twincities.com/2026/01/16/m...
State disputes ICE claim: ‘1,360 criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota’s custody’
MN Department of Corrections pushing back on Trump administration claims, saying they work with ICE.
www.twincities.com
January 22, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Non-citizens in the state prison system measure in the hundreds, not the thousands, according to state officials, who have repeatedly called federal tallies incorrect. “DHS claims that ‘ICE has more than 1,360 arrest detainers for criminal illegal aliens... www.twincities.com/2026/01/16/m...
A former friend of St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her sought a restraining order against the mayor after their friendship soured, a text message/social media fight escalated and she lost her board seat with the Natl. Kidney Foundation. A legal ref has tossed the case: www.twincities.com/2026/01/21/l...
Legal referee tosses petition for restraining order against St. Paul mayor
Shirly Yang said she had no plans to appeal the decision.
www.twincities.com
January 21, 2026 at 6:23 PM
A former friend of St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her sought a restraining order against the mayor after their friendship soured, a text message/social media fight escalated and she lost her board seat with the Natl. Kidney Foundation. A legal ref has tossed the case: www.twincities.com/2026/01/21/l...
Reposted by Frederick Melo, Reporter (TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press)
Duluth voters overwhelmingly approved last year a “Right to Repair” ordinance that gives landlords 14 days to fix broken items or tenants can deduct repair costs from up to half their rent/$500. Is St. Paul next? Signatures being collected now for ballot question: www.twincities.com/2026/01/20/h...
Housing advocates seek ‘Right to Repair’ law on St. Paul’s November ballot
If approved in November, landlords would have 14 days to make requested repairs or tenants could withhold half their rent.
www.twincities.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Duluth voters overwhelmingly approved last year a “Right to Repair” ordinance that gives landlords 14 days to fix broken items or tenants can deduct repair costs from up to half their rent/$500. Is St. Paul next? Signatures being collected now for ballot question: www.twincities.com/2026/01/20/h...
Duluth voters overwhelmingly approved last year a “Right to Repair” ordinance that gives landlords 14 days to fix broken items or tenants can deduct repair costs from up to half their rent/$500. Is St. Paul next? Signatures being collected now for ballot question: www.twincities.com/2026/01/20/h...
Housing advocates seek ‘Right to Repair’ law on St. Paul’s November ballot
If approved in November, landlords would have 14 days to make requested repairs or tenants could withhold half their rent.
www.twincities.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Duluth voters overwhelmingly approved last year a “Right to Repair” ordinance that gives landlords 14 days to fix broken items or tenants can deduct repair costs from up to half their rent/$500. Is St. Paul next? Signatures being collected now for ballot question: www.twincities.com/2026/01/20/h...
Reposted by Frederick Melo, Reporter (TwinCities.com, Pioneer Press)
Saint Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, in collaboration with the Saint Paul Police Department, Public Works, and the Department of Safety and Inspections, has announced a temporary pause on towing for most reported abandoned vehicles in response to federal immigration actions stpaul.gov/abandoned-vehicles
January 19, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Saint Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, in collaboration with the Saint Paul Police Department, Public Works, and the Department of Safety and Inspections, has announced a temporary pause on towing for most reported abandoned vehicles in response to federal immigration actions stpaul.gov/abandoned-vehicles
"In St. Paul, LeFevere said there had been at least two instances at Regions Hospital when federal agents entered the emergency department, once through the ambulance bay and another through a back entrance reserved for law enforcement." (NYT) www.twincities.com/2026/01/19/i...
Inside Twin Cities hospitals, ICE agents unnerve staff
Inside Minnesota Hospitals, ICE Agents Unnerve Staff
www.twincities.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:30 PM
"In St. Paul, LeFevere said there had been at least two instances at Regions Hospital when federal agents entered the emergency department, once through the ambulance bay and another through a back entrance reserved for law enforcement." (NYT) www.twincities.com/2026/01/19/i...
St. Paul Public Works employees launch GoFundMe fundraiser for plow truck driver detained and transferred to Texas for possible deportation www.twincities.com/2026/01/18/f...
Fundraiser for St. Paul city employee being deported despite legal status
A St. Paul public works employee faces deportation despite being legally authorized to work in the country, prompting public works leaders to organize a fundraiser to help him and his family.
www.twincities.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:21 PM
St. Paul Public Works employees launch GoFundMe fundraiser for plow truck driver detained and transferred to Texas for possible deportation www.twincities.com/2026/01/18/f...
A St. Paul Hmong elder, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was forced from his East Side home at gunpoint on Sunday afternoon, wearing nothing more than crocs, shorts and a children's blanket. ICE released the 57-year-old Thao about an hour later: www.twincities.com/2026/01/19/s... #StPaul #ICE
St. Paul: Hmong elder, a U.S. citizen, forced from his home at gunpoint, according to family
ChongLy “Saly” Scott Thao’s toddler grandson was napping on the couch of his St. Paul home when federal immigration agents broke through the door on Sunday afternoon and forced th…
www.twincities.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:07 PM
A St. Paul Hmong elder, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was forced from his East Side home at gunpoint on Sunday afternoon, wearing nothing more than crocs, shorts and a children's blanket. ICE released the 57-year-old Thao about an hour later: www.twincities.com/2026/01/19/s... #StPaul #ICE