Dozens of ICE Vehicles in Minnesota Lack ‘Necessary’ Lights and Sirens

A contract justification published in a federal register on Tuesday says that 31 ICE vehicles operating in the Twin Cities area “lack the necessary emergency lights and sirens” to be “compliant.”

More than two dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles on the ground in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area “currently lack the necessary emergency lights and sirens” required to be “compliant with law enforcement requirements,” according to a contract justification published in a federal register on Tuesday.

The document justifies ICE paying Whelen Engineering Company, a Connecticut-based firm specializing in “emergency warning and lighting technology,” $47,330.49 for 31 “ATLAS1” kits—seemingly a typo of ATLAS, the name of the product sold by Whelen—which the company’s website describes as an “Adaptable Travel Light and Siren Kit.” The document explains that the ATLAS Kits would “allow vehicles to be immediately operational and compliant with law enforcement requirements to support ...