Jeff Tews, a former bus driver for a company called First Student, Inc., worked in the White Bear Lake school district for 16 months. That is, until things changed along his route and he noticed adults waiting at bus stops—and talked to ICE agents about his safety concerns.
Tews spoke with Alpha News senior reporter Liz Collin about what he witnessed taking place in the past months during Operation Metro Surge.
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“When I first started the school year, I was picking students up on the street and when ICE ramped up in Minneapolis, the stops and pickups changed. They went to front doors of apartment complexes and also some houses,” Tews said.
Then he noticed adults hanging out at those bus stops. “I found it very strange and odd that people were there trying to get kids on and off the bus,” he added.
Tews said that one day in January, he noticed ICE agents along the route.
“The bus was empty and I stopped and talked to some ICE agents about what was going on because I thought it was a safety concern with people standing at the bus stop,” Tews explained.
Afterward, Tews said he found out that the people who had been standing at the bus stops “were school employees.”
He said he was then called into the office that same day to explain his interaction with ICE.
“I was put on administrative leave and then I was let go from my position a week later,” Tews said.
Tews said he was fired for “employee misconduct.”
In a statement to Alpha News, First Student said it is unable to provide comments on personnel matters.
Alpha News also contacted the White Bear Lake school district about why school district employees were at the bus stops. The district did not provide a response.
However, Alpha News has received more than a few tips about the instructions and protocols that various school districts issued to bus drivers regarding ICE agents.
SUBMITTED: School bus drivers in Duluth, Minnesota are told to “either drive away or close and lock the doors” if ICE is at a bus stop and if ICE tries to pull over a bus to “continue driving and head to the nearest school.”
“This entire list is bad policy, I believe,” a school… pic.twitter.com/yJNS1CEk0a
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) February 10, 2026
“I enjoyed my job. The kids were great,” Tews said. “I want to live in a safe community. I want to be protected. People that have done bad things need to go. Let ICE do their jobs.”
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
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