Operation Metro Surge was an operation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with the stated purpose of apprehending undocumented immigrants and deporting them. Beginning in December 2025, it initially targeted the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul), and later expanded to all of Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called it "the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out".
The surge was characterized by an escalation in the severity of ICE tactics, harassment, and threats against observers. It involved the detention of US citizens and the arrest of 3,000 people. Federal agents killed two civilian protestors during the operation: Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were both US citizens. One person detained by ICE during the operation died while in custody. The operation disrupted the economy and civil society of Minnesota, with schools transitioning to remote learning and immigration arrests disrupting everyday business activities.
Thousands in Minneapolis have protested the ICE activity. The governor and attorney general of Minnesota challenged the operation, stating that its primary purpose was "retribution" instead of immigration enforcement. On January 28, 2026, Minnesota chief US district judge Patrick Schiltz found that ICE violated at least 96 court orders in Minnesota since January 1, 2026. On February 3, Judge Jerry W. Blackwell said that the "overwhelming majority" of cases brought to him by ICE involved people lawfully present in the United States.
The operation ended in February 2026, although a residual immigration officer force remained in the state, numbering 650 in early March. In the following weeks, ICE continued to be active in the Twin Cities suburbs.
Operation Metro Surge was an operation by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with the stated purpose of apprehending undocumented immigrants and deporting them. Beginning in December 2025, it initially targeted the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul), and later expanded to all of Minnesota. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called it "the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out".
The surge was characterized by an escalation in the severity of ICE tactics, harassment, and threats against observers. It involved the detention of US citizens and the arrest of 3,000 people. Federal agents killed two civilian protestors during the operation: Renée Good and Alex Pretti, who were both US citizens. One person detained by ICE during the operation died while in custody. The operation disrupted the economy and civil society of Minnesota, with schools transitioning to remote learning and immigration arrests disrupting everyday business activities.
Thousands in Minneapolis have protested the ICE activity. The governor and attorney general of Minnesota challenged the operation, stating that its primary purpose was "retribution" instead of immigration enforcement. On January 28, 2026, Minnesota chief US district judge Patrick Schiltz found that ICE violated at least 96 court orders in Minnesota since January 1, 2026. On February 3, Judge Jerry W. Blackwell said that the "overwhelming majority" of cases brought to him by ICE involved people lawfully present in the United States.
The operation ended in February 2026, although a residual immigration officer force remained in the state, numbering 650 in early March. In the following weeks, ICE continued to be active in the Twin Cities suburbs.
Overview
One of Donald Trump's key campaign promises during his 2024 presidential campaign was a crackdown on illegal immigration and to commence mass-deportation operations. After his inauguration for his second term, Trump signed multiple executive orders related to immigration in the United States, and the Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents began raids across the country.
On December 4, 2025, DHS announced Operation Metro Surge, and on January 6, 2026, DHS announced an expansion of the effort to what it called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, sending 2,000 agents to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The surge included Homeland Security Investigations officers focused on the 2020s Minnesota fraud scandals, as the White House announced a multiagency effort to investigate these scandals. In addition, Donald Trump announced an effort to deport people of Somali descent in Minnesota that he said were involved in fraudulent activity, describing them as "garbage". Saint Paul City Council member Molly Coleman described the first day of the action as "unlike any other day we've experienced".
A Department of Justice attorney testified that, as of January 26, at least 2,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and 1,000 Customs and Border Patrol officers were participating in the operation. ICE says it has arrested 3,000 people in Minneapolis since the start of the operation. ICE detainee flights from Minneapolis more than doubled from December to January. Data released via a FOIA request in March 2026 showed that the operation resulted in at least 3,789 arrests, the majority of arrestees being from Ecuador and Mexico. Fewer than one quarter had a criminal record, while around 13% had pending criminal charges. About 35% of cases were "collateral" arrests resulting from street sweeps, not targeted action.
Although the effort was reputedly focused on fraud centered in the Somali-American community, only 106 arrestees (fewer than 3%) were from Somalia, and none had ties to the social services frauds under investigation. Following the killing of Renée Good by a federal agent in January 2026, the largest fraud prosecution (Feeding Our Future) faced setbacks due to the resignation of six federal prosecutors, including lead attorney Joe Thompson. Persons detained on the basis of their actual or suspected immigration status have included restaurant, airport and hotel workers, Target employees, children and families, Native Americans, students and commuters. Many detained individuals have been US citizens, legal residents with work authorization, or asylum seekers. The operation has seen a surge in lawsuits for wrongful detention in Minnesota.
Attempts by US citizens to observe or protest federal immigration raids have been met with surveillance, threats, arrests, and use of force including beatings, the use of chemical irritants, flashbangs, and LRADs. Journalists have been arrested after covering protests against ICE. Despite widely publicizing dozens of arrests of protestors, and referring to arrestees as violent "rioters" who assaulted federal agents, the Department of Justice repeatedly reduced formal charges against protestors to the level of a misdemeanor, or dismissed their charges altogether. This pattern led to criticism from former federal attorneys that the arrests and charges were sought in order to intimidate opponents, rather than seek convictions.
In a preliminary estimate, Operation Metro Surge cost Minneapolis more than $200 million for the month of January 2026. The city Emergency Operations Center's preliminary impact assessment calculated four sectors: food, livelihood, shelter, and mental health services, plus city operations including $5 million in police overtime. Local businesses lost $81 million in revenue, and workers lost $47 million in wages. Hotels lost $4.7 million due to cancellations. 76,200 people experience food insecurity. 8,713 school-aged children needed food services because of the operation. Mental health services providers reported a 50% reduction in client contact. The revised cost of the operation to the city was about $700 million between December 2025 and April 2026.
Timeline of operation
December 2025
At the beginning of December, ICE announced an enforcement surge in the Twin Cities. At least 12 people were arrested between December 1 and 5. CNN reported the operations were set to be primarily focused on undocumented Somali immigrants. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino requested identification from employees of an auto repair business after the owner, a US citizen who had fled Somalia, advised a man that he didn't have to answer their questions. Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey signed an executive order banning federal officials from using city property for staging areas. In late December, ICE agents threatened a pair of observers with arrest, then drove to the home of one of the observers and photographed it.
December 6
Around a dozen federal agents entered a home in Burnsville, Minnesota, and arrested four people, including the parents of a seven-year-old boy. They were taken to detention facilities outside of the state.
December 9
A 55-year-old Minneapolis resident and US citizen was detained by federal immigration agents while observing an ICE enforcement action on a public street in north Minneapolis. According to local news reporting, civil rights organizations, and court filings, the woman drove to the scene after receiving alerts about ongoing federal activity and stood on a sidewalk near the enforcement site. Within seconds of asking an ICE agent "Are you ICE?", she was reportedly tackled to the ground, handcuffed, and taken into custody by agents. Reporting indicates she was transported to the Whipple Federal Building in the Fort Snelling unorganized territory, shackled, and held in a cell for approximately four to five hours before being released without charges. During her detention, parts of her clothing and her wedding ring were reportedly removed. The ACLU complaint asserts that the observer was on a public street, did not interfere with federal agents, and that the detention was part of a broader pattern of confrontations between ICE agents and individuals documenting federal actions.
December 10
A 20-year-old US citizen in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis was wrongfully detained by unidentified ICE agents during his lunch break. The man was tackled, put into a headlock and taken in a vehicle to the Whipple Building, despite offering to show his passport by shouting "I'm a citizen. I'm a citizen." upon contact with the agents. He was released after being allowed to show his passport hours later and walked back to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in the snow. Minneapolis and Minnesota police and politicians denounced his detention as unlawful and unconstitutional.
December 14
In an interview, Representative Ilhan Omar said that her son had been pulled over by ICE. He was able to show the agents his passport and was not detained.
December 15
ICE agents in Minneapolis attempted to arrest a woman who they said had attempted to vandalize their vehicle. The use of force in detaining the woman was criticized by Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara, and led to pushback from bystanders, who surrounded the agents and threw snowballs at them until they abandoned the arrest.
December 22
ICE agents opened fire on a Cuban immigrant who they alleged had hit them with an SUV while fleeing arrest in Saint Paul.
January 2026
January 5
A family reported that a father was detained by ICE while on his way to work, disrupting the family's livelihood and leaving them uncertain about his status and location. A judge later ordered his release.
January 6
DHS announced it was launching what it called the largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, sending 2,000 agents to the Twin Cities.
ICE agents photographed the license plates and faces of a St. Paul couple observing their activities, then greeted them by name and drove to their house. According to the couple, the encounter was intimidating and left them shaken.
A woman, her child and her neighbor's child, who is African American, were also pulled over by ICE. Observers gathered around the traffic stop, and the agents eventually left without making an arrest or speaking to anyone in the car.
A 10-year-old Columbia Heights student and her mother were taken by ICE and sent to a Texas detention center.
Victor Manuel Diaz is taken by ICE and transferred within a week to Camp East Montana, a detention center at Fort Bliss, Texas.