On December 4, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security formally announced Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation targeting the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The operation initially deployed approximately 100 ICE agents specifically targeting the Somali community following President Trump's characterization of Somali Americans as "garbage" who "contribute nothing."
On January 6, 2026, DHS dramatically escalated the operation, deploying 2,000 federal agents (ICE and CBP officers) to Minneapolis -- describing it as the "largest immigration enforcement operation ever carried out" in the United States. By January 26, the force had grown to approximately 2,000 ICE officers and 1,000 CBP officers. An additional 1,000 agents were announced on January 12.
The operation's full scope and consequences:
Scale: At least 3,789 arrests documented through FOIA data released in March 2026, though the White House claimed over 4,000. The majority of arrestees were from Ecuador and Mexico, contradicting the initial framing that the operation targeted Somali fraud networks. Internal data showed only 578 of the claimed arrests could be documented -- roughly 14% of the administration's public claims.
Fatal violence: Federal agents killed two American civilians during the operation. Renee Good, a legal observer, was shot and killed on January 7, 2026. Alex Pretti was also killed by federal agents. Both were U.S. citizens. The DOJ Civil Rights Division refused to investigate the Good killing, triggering mass resignations of senior DOJ officials.
Legal challenges: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed suit against DHS on January 12, 2026, challenging the operation's constitutionality and documenting widespread civil rights violations including detention of U.S. citizens based on ethnic appearance.
Conclusion: DHS border czar Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge on February 12, 2026, after 10 weeks. The operation established the precedent that the federal government could deploy a military-scale enforcement operation targeting a specific ethnic community in an American city, kill civilians with impunity, and face no accountability from the Justice Department.