The Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota between December 2025 and March 2026 led to widespread human rights violations, terrorized residents and communities, and spotlighted deep abuses in US immigration enforcement.
During the operation, Human Rights Watch documented how masked and armed officers unlawfully killed two people and injured others, unlawfully arrested and detained hundreds, engaged in racial profiling, harassment, and surveillance, infringed on residents’ rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and impacted their rights to education and health, among others.
>> Read: “A Manufactured Crisis” in Minnesota
The new report calls for accountability at the highest levels of government, and names those with responsibility for overseeing the operation.
“Operation Metro Surge” was the largest interior deployment of immigration agents since President Trump took office, but the campaign and its tactics fit a broader pattern of abusive deployments to US cities and towns.
In January, federal agents in Minnesota unlawfully shot and killed US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Agents also threatened other residents with lethal force, pulling guns on them without justification on numerous occasions.
For months, the operation disrupted all aspects of everyday life, and normal activities, such as taking the bus to school or visiting the grocery store, became fraught with risk. Fear, anxiety, and hardship had serious effects for mental health, especially for children.
Over the course of this abusive campaign, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained approximately 4,000 immigrants, over 75 percent of whom had no US criminal convictions.
But despite the terror and trauma, Minnesotans mobilized to protest, to document abuse, and to provide critical aid to one another.
The federal government’s campaign in Minnesota may have officially ended, but the terror it caused for communities there is long-lasting and deserves attention amid fears these abuses will be repeated elsewhere.
