Minnesota’s Democratic leaders, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, spent weeks trying to contain political and public fallout from a large federal immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities after two U.S. citizens were killed in encounters involving federal agents. The operation, known as “Operation Metro Surge,” was later scaled back and then ended after widespread backlash and mounting legal and political pressure.
In early January 2026, the Department of Homeland Security said it had launched “Operation Metro Surge,” a large immigration enforcement deployment in Minnesota. Local officials and civil rights groups said thousands of federal agents were operating in and around Minneapolis and St. Paul, an unusually large footprint for the state.
Tensions spiked on Jan. 7, 2026, when Renée Nicole Good, 37, was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, according to the ACLU of Minnesota and a public statement from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. After the killing, Walz and Frey publicly demanded answers and urged residents to document encounters with federal agents, while state officials prepared for further escalation.
A second flashpoint came on Jan. 14, when a Venezuelan immigrant identified by federal officials as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg during a North Minneapolis incident that DHS described as a targeted traffic stop followed by a struggle. The Department of Justice later moved to dismiss charges filed against Sosa-Celis and another Venezuelan man tied to that encounter, citing newly discovered evidence that it said was inconsistent with earlier allegations.
Public anger grew further after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, during an encounter with federal agents in Minneapolis. Local outlets reported that multiple videos captured the incident from different angles and circulated widely, intensifying scrutiny of federal accounts of what happened.
As protests continued, Walz, Frey and Ellison pursued a mix of public messaging and behind-the-scenes outreach aimed at de-escalation, while Minnesota also moved toward court challenges targeting aspects of the federal operation. National attention increased as outside observers and advocacy groups criticized the scope and tactics of the deployment.
By late January and early February, the Trump administration began reshuffling leadership. Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official who had become the public face of the surge, was reassigned, and Tom Homan took a leading role on the ground. Homan announced a drawdown of hundreds of officers and, later, the conclusion of the Minnesota surge.
Polling during the period suggested broad public skepticism of the tactic of deploying federal immigration agents into major U.S. cities. An AP-NORC survey conducted Feb. 5–8, 2026, found about 60% of U.S. adults said President Donald Trump had gone too far with such deployments, while other polling described Trump’s immigration approval at about 38%.
The administration ultimately announced that the Minnesota surge would end, framing the wind-down as the result of improved cooperation. Minneapolis officials, for their part, said the city had not changed its underlying policies governing local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
