3,700 Arrested in Minnesota Immigration Surge Operation

Federal immigration agents arrested more than 3,700 people in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge, a three-month enforcement operation that ran from early December 2025 to mid-March 2026, according to data obtained by the Deportation Data Project through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The operation, which deployed thousands of agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and surrounding regions, primarily targeted individuals from Latin American countries. More than half of those detained originated from Ecuador or Mexico, with significant numbers also from Guatemala and Honduras. Only about 100 to 112 arrests involved Somali nationals, despite initial public statements from administration officials emphasizing concerns over fraud in Somali communities. The data, released in late March 2026, provides the most detailed account yet of the surge's scope, including arrest locations, nationalities, ages and criminal histories, though it contains duplicates and omissions that suggest it may undercount the total.

A key focus of the operation was immigrants with criminal records, according to federal officials, who described it as targeting the "worst of the worst," including those...