Activists are approached by a federal agent, brandishing a firearm, for following agent vehicles on Tuesday in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Immigration officers with guns drawn arrested activists who were trailing their vehicles on Tuesday in Minneapolis, while education leaders described anxiety and fear in Minnesota schools from the ongoing federal sweeps.

Both are signs that tension remains in the Minneapolis area after the departure of high-profile commander Greg Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol and the arrival of Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, which followed the fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti.

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

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

Federal agents in the Twin Cities lately have been conducting more targeted immigration arrests at homes and neighborhoods, rather than staging in parking lots. The convoys have been harder to find and less aggressive. Alerts in activist group chats have been more about sightings than immigration-related detainments.

Several cars followed officers through south Minneapolis after there were reports of them knocking at homes. Officers stopped their vehicles and ordered activists to come out of a car at gunpoint. Agents told reporters at the scene to stay back and threatened to use pepper spray.

A federal judge last month put limits on how officers treat motorists who are following them but not obstructing their operations. Safely following agents “at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop,” the judge said. An appeals court, however, set the order aside.

Bovino, who was leading immigration enforcement in Minneapolis and other big U.S. cities, left town last week, shortly after Pretti’s death became the second local killing of a U.S. citizen in January.

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

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

Lewis, a U.S. citizen, said she’s seen SUVs with tinted windows, multiple masked people inside and out-of-state license plates. She goes on neighborhood patrols near schools with a security guard.

“Students are afraid to come to school, parents are afraid to drop them off,” Lewis said. “Staff are coming to work wondering if today will be the day something happens in one of our buildings.”

She said Fridley, which has Somali and Ecuadorian families, has added security, adjusted drop-off procedures and increased mental health support. Tracy Xiong, a social worker in the Columbia Heights district, said she’s been coordinating grocery deliveries to school families and finding volunteers to drive children.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE about the arrests in south Minneapolis and the concerns of educators.