ICE Arrests 75+ U-Visa Crime Victims During Operation Metro Surge, Reversing Decades of Protection Policy

The Minnesota Reformer identified at least 75 people detained during Operation Metro Surge who held U visa status — work permits and deportation protections granted specifically to immigrants who are crime victims cooperating with law enforcement. Victims arrested include survivors of shootings, stabbings, human trafficking, felony assault, and armed robbery. The reversal traces to a policy change: ten days after Trump’s second inauguration, ICE’s acting director issued a memo overturning decades of agency guidance that had barred arresting immigrants with pending U-visa applications.

This is a distinct finding from the operation’s previously documented 1,300 “collateral” arrests (2026-04-08–ice-data-reveals-1300-collateral-arrests-operation-metro-surge) — those were bystanders swept up incidentally, while the U-visa arrests target people the government had formally recognized as crime victims and law-enforcement cooperators. Operation Metro Surge has generated a sustained record of documented harm in this corpus, from its initial 3,000-arrest announcement (2026-01-19–ice-announces-3000-arrests-operation-metro-surge) through an agent’s criminal assault charge (hennepin-county-attorney-mary-moriarty-charges-ice-agent-gregory-donnell-morgan-jr-with-two-counts-of-second-degree-assault-first-state-criminal-charge-against-federal-immigration-agent-during-operation-metro-surge). Source is tier-2 regional reporting (Minnesota Reformer) without independent tier-1 corroboration as of this writing; the 75-victim figure should be treated as Minnesota Reformer’s own count, not a comprehensive tally.