type: timeline_event
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the deployment of 2,000 federal agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, calling it the "largest immigration operation ever." ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons stated agents would go "door to door" to companies suspected of hiring undocumented immigrants, with the official justification targeting welfare fraud in Minnesota's Somali community and arresting "criminal illegal aliens."
The operation, dubbed "Operation Metro Surge," had quietly begun in early December 2025 with approximately 700 agents. The January 6 announcement represented a massive escalation, more than doubling the number of local Minneapolis police officers with federal immigration agents. Agent composition included approximately 75% from ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, 600 investigators from Homeland Security Investigations, Special Response Teams (tactical units), and U.S. Border Patrol agents.
The operation would trigger the first recorded homicide of 2026 in Minneapolis the following day when an ICE agent killed legal observer Renee Good, sparking nationwide protests and eventually leading to the resignation of six federal prosecutors who objected to DOJ's handling of the investigation.