Trump Administration Launches "Largest DHS Operation in History" Against Minnesota, Targeting Somali Community

Details

In December 2025, the Trump administration launched "Operation Metro Surge," deploying approximately 3,000 federal agents to Minneapolis—what the Department of Homeland Security has called "the largest DHS operation in history." The administration cited welfare fraud cases involving some members of Minnesota's Somali community as justification. President Trump publicly called Somali Americans "garbage" who "contribute nothing" and declared "I don't want them in our country." The operation has prompted multiple federal lawsuits alleging constitutional violations, forced school closures, and triggered widespread community fear among both citizens and non-citizens.

Background

Trump's Rhetoric Against Somali Americans

On December 2, 2025, during a Cabinet meeting, President Trump launched a sustained verbal attack against Somali Americans. According to NPR, Trump stated:

• "They contribute nothing. I don't want them in our country."
• "Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don't want them in our country."
• "Somalians ripped off that state for billions of dollars... and they contribute nothing."
• "These aren't people that work. These aren't people that say, 'Let's go, c'mon. Let's make this place great.' These are people that do nothing but complain."

Trump called Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her associates "garbage" and said Somalis should "go back to where they came from and fix it." According to Fortune, Trump said the word "garbage" four times in seven seconds when describing Somali immigrants.

Administration's Stated Justification: Welfare Fraud

The administration has cited welfare fraud cases as the basis for the massive deployment. The fraud allegations stem primarily from the Feeding Our Future scandal, a COVID-era scheme in which a nonprofit falsely claimed to distribute meals to children during the pandemic. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Merrick Garland called it the nation's largest pandemic relief fraud scheme, with estimated losses of approximately $250 million.

Key facts about the fraud cases:

As of late 2025, 78 people had been charged in the Feeding Our Future case, with more than 50 pleading guilty. The scheme's leader was Aimee Bock, a white woman who founded the nonprofit. While most defendants (excluding Bock) were Somali Americans, the former U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case, Andy Luger, stated: "The vast majority of the money that these folks made went to spending on luxury items for themselves. There was never any evidence that this money went to fund terrorism nor was there any evidence that was the intent of the 70 people we indicted."

Claims about terrorism funding: The Treasury Department is investigating whether funds reached the al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia. However, multiple federal investigators told CBS News there is no evidence taxpayer dollars were directly funneled to al-Shabaab.

Nick Shirley viral video: On December 26, 2025, a viral video by 23-year-old conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley—who had previously built a following with anti-immigrant content—alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run child care centers. The video was amplified by Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance. However, according to Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown, investigators visited each of the centers featured and found them all operating as expected. Five of the ten centers had previously operated as meal distribution sites for Feeding Our Future but none had been accused of wrongdoing in that case.

Demographics vs. Administration Claims

The administration's characterization of Somalis in Minnesota is contradicted by demographic data. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey and Pew Research Center estimates:

• Minnesota's population of unauthorized immigrants is approximately 2.2%, about half the national average
• Nearly 58% of Somalis in Minnesota were born in the United States
• Of the foreign-born Somalis in the state, 87% are naturalized U.S. citizens
• More than 90% of Minnesota's Somali population have some form of permanent legal status

Minnesota has roughly 130,000 unauthorized immigrants—on par with Utah, Wisconsin and Indiana, and far fewer than New York, Texas and Florida, which have not seen comparable enforcement surges. Mexico is the most common country of origin for Minnesota's unauthorized immigrants, according to Pew Research Center data.

"They are taking people that are working within the system, that are asylum seekers, that are green-card holders," Dan Engelhart, a northeast Minneapolis resident and commissioner on the city's park board, told The Wall Street Journal. "It's really terrifying to see our neighbors terrorized in this way."

Ryan Allen, associate dean for research at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs, told the Journal: "It's a massive effort on the part of ICE, and when you look at the numbers it's hard to understand the logic."

The Operation

Scale of Operation Metro Surge

According to The Wall Street Journal, approximately 3,000 federal officers are operating in and around Minneapolis—a city of just 430,000 residents—compared with a few hundred sent to Chicago (population 2.7 million) in fall 2025. This greatly exceeds the combined number of sworn police officers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

A CBS News breakdown identified 800 Customs and Border Protection agents and 2,000 ICE officers and agents—a total of 2,800 personnel. The operation includes agents from both agencies as well as support personnel.

The operation was conceived by officials at the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who viewed targeting Minnesota as a fitting response to the welfare scandals, according to current and former ICE officials cited by the Journal.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin stated that federal forces have arrested more than 2,500 people in the Minneapolis area since the operation began in late November 2025, though it was not determined how many were later released.

Arrest quotas and rewards: According to The Wall Street Journal, ICE officers are under pressure from daily arrest quotas that leadership has set at 3,000 a day across the country—the number it would take to reach one million arrests in a year. Though ICE has never come close to meeting that daily goal, officers are rewarded for making arrests, even if the immigrants they take in are later released.

Internal frustration: Inside ICE, some officials have grown frustrated with their lack of control over the Minneapolis operation, but at the same time don't want to back down in the face of pushback from protesters, according to officials familiar with the matter cited by the Journal. ICE leadership, traditionally charged with leading the nation's immigration enforcement, have played a relatively small role in selecting which cities to target and why.

U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, leading operations in Minneapolis, told a local TV station: "Unfortunately, in Minneapolis, I call this a contrast in operations, a vast, conspicuous contrast in operations. A lot of unfriendly individuals out there, a lot of violence against ICE and Border Patrol."

Enforcement Tactics

"Kavanaugh stops": The enforcement tactics in Minneapolis have drawn scrutiny under a contested legal framework known as "Kavanaugh stops"—brief immigration detentions based on factors including a person's perceived ethnicity, spoken language, and occupation. The term originated from Justice Brett Kavanaugh's September 2025 concurring opinion in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo. Kavanaugh wrote that while "apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion," it can be a "relevant factor" when combined with other indicators—such as working in jobs "that do not require paperwork" or not speaking much English. The Supreme Court's conservative majority voted 6-3 to lift a lower court's restrictions on such stops. In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, argued the tactics likely violated the Fourth Amendment, citing sworn statements of agents "leaping from unmarked vehicles, racking rifles and detaining people without asking basic questions."

Drexel University Law Professor Anil Kalhan coined the term "Kavanaugh stop" in October 2025 after a Latino man was detained overnight by ICE despite agents never inquiring about his immigration status—releasing him only "once a supervisor realized he had been illegally arrested." Advocates say the practice has spread from Los Angeles to Minneapolis. "What we see in Minneapolis specifically is not an anomaly," immigrant rights attorney Myrna Mauleón told the Star Tribune. "It's a translation of this legal logic where we go from language being Spanish to Somali or accents in English."

In December 2025, Kavanaugh appeared to walk back his earlier position in Trump v. Illinois, writing that officers "must not make interior immigration stops or arrests based on race or ethnicity"—a statement that, as Slate noted, "directly conflicts with his earlier assertion."

"Citizen check" video: One video verified by The Wall Street Journal and posted to social media appears to show Border Patrol agents surrounding a Somali resident on a street, asking for identification for what one officer called a "citizen check." The footage shows the agent repeatedly asking where she was born, despite her saying she is a U.S. citizen. He warned that if she didn't provide ID, "we're going to put you in the vehicle"—and motioned to a black SUV. After passersby blew whistles and honked horns, the agents left.

Shopping area blockades: The Minnesota lawsuit alleges there have been reports of blockades at shopping areas where "roving groups of DHS agents block all traffic and demand the citizenship of riders in every car."

Former ICE prosecutor on tactics: Ryan Wood, who formerly served as an ICE prosecutor and an assistant chief immigration judge overseeing deportation cases, told The Wall Street Journal that the current tactics represent a break from lawful enforcement. Wood said the pace of detentions and failure to maintain information about detainees' locations are unprecedented. "I've prosecuted the worst of the worst of noncitizens committing crimes in Minnesota and don't have a problem with enforcing the law," Wood said—but he characterized the current operation as lawless: "ICE seems to be taking many people into custody and asking questions later."

Documented Incidents (Star Tribune Coverage)

The Minnesota Star Tribune has provided ongoing coverage of individual incidents in Operation Metro Surge. DHS says it has arrested more than 2,500 people since the operation began December 1, 2025, but has not released the names of all those detained. The following incidents have been documented:

Fatal Shootings:

• January 24: Federal agents shot and killed a 51-year-old man near 26th Street W and Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis—just over a mile from where Renee Good was killed. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the man had a firearm with two magazines. Governor Walz demanded that Trump "pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now." After the shooting, an angry crowd gathered; one agent responded mockingly, telling protesters "Boo hoo" as he walked away. This is the third shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis since January 7.
• January 7: ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, 37, in south Minneapolis. Video analysis by the Star Tribune contradicted Trump's claim that Good "ran over the ICE Officer." The same agent had been dragged by a fleeing car in a separate incident six months earlier.

Children Detained:

• January 23: A 2-year-old girl and her father, both Ecuadorian nationals, were detained in south Minneapolis. ICE flew them to Texas despite a federal court order issued at 8:11 p.m. requiring the child's immediate release by 9:30 p.m. The flight departed at 8:30 p.m. The toddler was returned to her mother on January 24 after spending the night in Texas detention.
• January 21: A 5-year-old boy and his father were detained in their driveway in Columbia Heights as the child was coming home from preschool. School superintendent Zena Stenvik accused ICE of using the child "as bait" to apprehend his father, who is an asylum seeker. A 10-year-old girl and her mother were also detained in a separate incident.

U.S. Citizens Detained:

• January 13: Two Target employees in Richfield were detained by Border Patrol agents in the store's entryway; State Rep. Michael Howard said both were U.S. citizens and were injured in the incident.
• January 8: Jose Roberto Ramirez, a 20-year-old born in Minneapolis, was detained at a Robbinsdale Hy-Vee in an encounter livestreamed on Facebook. His mother, a member of the Red Lake Nation, brought his passport and birth certificate to the federal building but was initially turned away.
• January 11: A U.S. citizen's 69-year-old wife was surrounded by ICE agents in West St. Paul. When her husband asked why, agents told him "it was because she is Mexican."

Schools and Day Cares:

• January 7: Federal agents descended on Roosevelt High School during dismissal time. According to the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, agents tackled and detained an on-duty school staff member and union member, and deployed chemical irritants against students and staff on school grounds. Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes for the remainder of the week. (DHS stated agents arrived after a 5-mile vehicle pursuit of someone who allegedly rammed a government vehicle.)
• January 7: ICE agents in tactical gear detained a teacher outside a Jardin Spanish Immersion Academy location in Minneapolis as she was about to start work.
• St. Paul Public Schools reported two vans carrying students were pulled over by federal agents while en route to school.
• A parent was detained at their child's bus stop in Crystal.

Businesses and Restaurants:

• January 15: ICE agents ate lunch at El Tapatio, a family-owned Mexican restaurant in Willmar, then returned at closing time to detain three workers. "Would your mama be proud of you right now?" a bystander shouted at agents.
• The owner of El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul told CNN that ICE is "using my business as a hunting ground," with agents "swirling around the block waiting for people."
• January 14: ICE agents detained a man at Midtown Global Market on Lake Street in Minneapolis.

St. Cloud Confrontation — January 12:

Hundreds of residents clashed with ICE agents in the parking lot of a strip mall housing Somali businesses in St. Cloud. After residents blocked ICE vehicles following the detention of a man leaving a deli, agents deployed chemical irritants. State Senator Aric Putnam acted as a shield between protesters and agents.

December Incidents:

• December 15: A viral video showed an ICE agent dragging a woman across the pavement near Karmel Mall in south Minneapolis. Bystanders reported she was pregnant; DHS disputed the accounts. Two unauthorized immigrants were detained and two U.S. citizens were arrested for allegedly assaulting federal officers.

Escalation and Military Preparations

The operation continues to escalate. On January 18, far-right influencer Jake Lang—whose conviction for assaulting a police officer with a baseball bat during the January 6 attack was pardoned by Trump—organized a "March Against Minnesota Fraud" at Minneapolis City Hall. Lang had announced on social media plans to "burn a Quran" and march through Cedar-Riverside, the neighborhood with Minneapolis's largest Somali American population. According to The Wall Street Journal, Lang's handful of supporters were vastly outnumbered by hundreds of counterprotesters. Lang was eventually chased into a hotel lobby by counterprotesters who threw water balloons at him in below-zero temperatures. Lang later claimed on social media he had been stabbed; Minneapolis police said no report had been filed.

Military preparations: The Pentagon has ordered approximately 1,500 active-duty soldiers to be ready for possible deployment to Minnesota, according to defense officials cited by the Associated Press. Two infantry battalions from the Army's 11th Airborne Division—based in Alaska and specializing in arctic conditions—have been given prepare-to-deploy orders. One defense official said the troops are standing by should President Trump invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely-used 19th century law that would allow him to employ active-duty troops as law enforcement.

Governor Walz has mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to support the Minnesota State Patrol "to assist in providing traffic support to protect life, preserve property, and support the rights of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully," though guard troops have not yet been deployed to city streets.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche voiced support for invoking the Insurrection Act on Fox News Sunday: "President Trump has promised to keep the American people safe, and the fact that the local law enforcement, because their leadership is not doing their jobs, there may come a time when the president has to order that."

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told CNN: "I never thought in a million years that we would be invaded by our own federal government." On the prospect of state National Guard and local police facing off against ICE agents and active-duty troops, Frey said: "We can't have that in America."

Some City Council members now carry gas masks everywhere they go, according to the Journal. The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board described the city as being "under siege" by the federal government.

Legal Challenges

Leaked Memo: ICE Authorized to Enter Homes Without Judicial Warrants

A May 2025 internal ICE memo, revealed by whistleblowers to Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), authorized agents to forcibly enter homes using only administrative warrants—without judicial approval.

According to NBC News, the memo from ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons stated that ICE agents can forcibly enter residences to arrest people with final deportation orders, using only an administrative Form I-205 warrant. Administrative warrants are signed by ICE officials, not judges.

"Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose," the memo reads.

The whistleblower advocacy group Whistleblower Aid stated: "This 'policy' flies in the face of longstanding federal law enforcement training material and policies, all rooted in constitutional assessments. In other words: the Form I-205 does not authorize ICE agents to enter a home. Training new recruits, many of whom have zero prior law enforcement training or experience, to seemingly disregard the Fourth Amendment, should be of grave concern to everyone."

According to Blumenthal, the memo was "allegedly not widely distributed" despite being labeled "all-hands." Whistleblowers reported supervisors showed it to select employees, directed them to read it and return it, and "it was reportedly clear that anyone who openly spoke out against this new directive would be fired."

Federal Judges Rejecting Arrest Warrants

Federal judges in Minnesota have repeatedly rejected arrest warrants for protesters, finding that federal agents lack sufficient evidence that protesters committed crimes, according to MSNOW.

Magistrate judges in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota have been "deluged with requests from federal prosecutors to arrest and criminally charge protesters." But according to two people briefed on sealed court proceedings, "some prosecutors have fared poorly in establishing evidence of crime."

It is exceedingly rare for judges to reject investigators' requests for arrest warrants, since the standard of evidence required is low—agents need only show a "fair probability" that a suspect engaged in a crime. The rejections have occurred amid turmoil in the U.S. attorney's office: six senior prosecutors resigned after the Justice Department's decision not to investigate the agent who killed Renee Good.

In one case, a judge rejected an effort to arrest a protester who had thrown an egg at a law enforcement vehicle. In another, Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko rejected a criminal complaint against St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen for allegedly seeking to "threaten or intimidate people from engaging in worship" at a church protest. Micko found no probable cause for that charge, though he granted a separate conspiracy charge. Micko also rejected a criminal complaint against journalist Don Lemon, who had followed protesters inside the church.

Former FBI agents have publicly complained of watching ICE officers arrest protesters who appear only to be taunting or yelling—which they say appears to be protected free speech and not a criminal act.

CBP Commander Gregory Bovino, asked about the rejections at a press conference, acknowledged struggling to get some warrants approved: "We work very hard with [the] Department of Justice, with the courts, to gather and obtain those warrants... We worked through what we needed to do to get a warrant for this individual. And you know, we're going to, we're going to continue to work with judges and the courts to obtain these warrants with those judges."

Detainees Denied Attorney Access

William Vermie, a 39-year-old Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, told ABC News he was tackled by ICE agents on January 13 while standing on a public sidewalk observing an arrest in his Minneapolis neighborhood—then held for eight hours without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family.

"They read me my rights and asked me if I wanted to answer any questions without a lawyer, and I said no," Vermie told ABC News. "And then they said, 'You'll have an opportunity to contact one later.'" He was never allowed to speak with an attorney during his detention, even after his wife contacted one who attempted to see him.

Vermie's attorney told ABC News he went to the Whipple Federal Building immediately after being contacted by Vermie's family and "waited three hours to see his client, but was denied the opportunity, despite making multiple requests."

DHS said Vermie was arrested for "assaulting a law enforcement officer." Vermie denied the allegation. Bystander video shows Vermie standing in the path of ICE agents, after which several tackle him to the snowy ground—but does not clearly show whether Vermie assaulted an agent. As of the ABC report, no charges had been filed against him.

Four attorneys told ABC News they have been denied access to their clients at the Whipple Building, which they say violates Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. The attorneys described the practice as "new and unprecedented."

"I have privilege. I was medically retired, I'm a combat vet, I'm white, I'm middle class," Vermie said. "If I can't advocate for people who need it, then who else is going to do it? Who else is going to stand up and speak truth to power?"

FBI Agent Resigns After Seeking to Investigate ICE Shooting

Tracee Mergen, an FBI supervisor in the Minneapolis field office, resigned from the bureau after leadership in Washington pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Renee Good on January 7, according to The New York Times. Such inquiries are a common investigative step in similar shootings.

Instead of allowing Mergen to investigate Ross, the Justice Department has decided to investigate Good and her partner, Becca Good, "scrutinizing their possible ties to left-wing protest groups in Minneapolis." That decision prompted at least six senior prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. attorney's office to resign in protest.

Federal investigators have also refused to cooperate with state and local prosecutors in Minnesota, complicating any efforts they might take to open their own investigations into Ross.

Federal Lawsuits Against the Administration

On January 12, 2026, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, filed an 80-page federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and senior officials including Secretary Kristi Noem.

According to Wired, Ellison stated at a press conference: "This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop." He accused DHS agents of sowing "chaos and terror" across the metro area through warrantless arrests, excessive force, and enforcement actions at schools, churches, hospitals, and other sensitive locations.

The lawsuit alleges:

• Violation of the First Amendment through viewpoint discrimination and retaliation against Minnesota for its political positions
• Violation of the Tenth Amendment by commandeering state and local police resources
• Violation of the Equal Sovereignty Principle by targeting Minnesota disproportionately compared to red states with larger unauthorized immigrant populations
• Violations of the Administrative Procedure Act through arbitrary and capricious actions

The lawsuit cites a January 9 interview in which Trump "essentially claimed that Minnesota is 'corrupt' and 'crooked' because its officials accurately reported election results and those results did not declare him the winner."

By January 9, Minneapolis police officers had worked more than 3,000 hours of overtime, with estimated costs exceeding $2 million for January 8-11. The ACLU of Minnesota also filed a class-action lawsuit alleging racial profiling and unlawful arrests. Illinois and Chicago filed a separate lawsuit accusing the administration of "unleashing a militarized immigration operation that has rampaged for months."

A federal judge imposed new limits on how agents can interact with demonstrators, blocking them from pepper-spraying or arresting peaceful protesters.

Administration Response to Legal Challenges

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin stated that allegations of racial profiling are false: "Law enforcement uses 'reasonable suspicion' to make arrests, as allowed under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. President Trump's job is to protect the American people and enforce the law—no matter who your mayor, governor, or state attorney general is."

CBP Commander Gregory Bovino stated: "If they are United States citizens or legal permanent residents, or have some type of legal status to be or remain here in the United States, there's no reason to be scared. However, if they are a criminal alien or an illegal alien, then they should probably be very scared."

In a December 16 post on X, DHS pushed back on allegations of racial profiling: "What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity."

DOJ Investigation of State Officials

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey over whether they are impeding federal law enforcement. Walz called the probe "an attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis."

On January 20, 2026, at the height of the operation, the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas to the offices of several prominent Minnesota Democrats who had criticized the administration's immigration policies—including Governor Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Mayor Frey, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, as well as the Hennepin and Ramsey County boards of commissioners. The subpoenas sought broad records on those offices' immigration-enforcement policies dating back to January 1, 2025. The stated justification was an investigation into possible violations of federal laws barring the concealment of undocumented immigrants and obstruction of the government.

Judge Quashes DOJ Subpoenas as Retaliatory (June 2026)

On June 22, 2026, in a ruling unsealed that day, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota quashed the Justice Department's subpoenas of state and local officials, finding that the administration had engaged in a politically motivated and improper use of the grand jury process. Schiltz—a George W. Bush appointee who had previously raised concerns about the administration's conduct during Operation Metro Surge—wrote that "the dominant purpose of the challenged subpoenas is to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so."

The judge wrote that although the subpoenas were justified as an investigation into concealing undocumented immigrants and obstructing the government, they were in fact "directed to investigating activity that is not only legal, but constitutionally protected from interference by the very federal government that issued the subpoenas." According to the Minnesota Reformer, Schiltz found that the connection between the "information sought in the subpoenas and any possible criminal violation range[s] from extremely weak to nonexistent," that he had "struggled — without success — to identify a single plausible investigatory justification," and that there was "overwhelming evidence that these subpoenas were not issued to investigate, but to harass, coerce and retaliate." "The court has no doubt that they were," he wrote. ABC News reported that the ruling also described the subpoenas as "blatantly unlawful" and "extraordinarily broad." Legal observers noted that quashing grand jury subpoenas directed at a sitting governor is extraordinarily rare, and NBC News characterized the decision as a finding that the Trump administration was using unlawful subpoenas to harass Minnesota Democrats. The Star Tribune and CBS News Minnesota also covered the ruling.

This was not Schiltz's first confrontation with the administration over the operation. At one point during the winter, according to The New York Times, he ordered the leader of ICE to appear in his courtroom to explain why people arrested by immigration agents had been held without an opportunity to challenge their detentions; he later backed off that demand when the immigrant at the heart of the case was released.

The Justice Department said in a statement that it "takes the unlawful obstruction of federal law enforcement operations extremely seriously and will continue to act in full compliance with the law to investigate these matters." The U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota declined to say whether it would appeal. A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman had previously referred to an earlier Schiltz order as a "diatribe from this activist judge"; the department declined to comment on the ruling.

Several targeted officials praised the ruling as a victory for the rule of law. Attorney General Ellison's office described the quashed demand as a "retaliatory subpoena." "No one should be targeted for questioning those in power," Frey said. "No community should be expected to accept harmful policies without objection. And no administration should use the tools of law enforcement to silence dissent."

Community Impact

Community and Economic Impact

According to the Associated Press, Somali-owned businesses at Karmel Mall in south Minneapolis have seen dramatic declines—one business owner reported going from 15-20 customers to nearly none. Both citizens and non-citizens are afraid to leave their homes.

The Somali American Leadership Table (SALT), formed in December 2025, has organized community patrols. Imam Yusuf Abdulle, a SALT co-founder, stated: "The armed men and women, with their faces covered, roaming our streets and profiling us... This moment in America is reminding us again of the Somali civil war."

Ruth Buffalo, chief executive of the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center, told The Wall Street Journal her office building locked down because of ICE activity in the neighborhood: "Things are getting tense, and it's taking a toll on people's well-being because it's constant fight or flight. We're being told to brace for the worst."

Protests:

• January 23: Thousands marched through downtown Minneapolis in below-zero temperatures in the "ICE Out of Minnesota: A Day of Truth and Freedom" protest. Organizers called for a general strike and economic blackout; approximately 700 businesses closed in solidarity. At a separate protest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, approximately 100 clergy members were arrested during a sit-in against deportation flights.
• January 10: Thousands marched calling for justice for Renee Good and for ICE to leave Minnesota.
• January 9: About a thousand protesters converged outside hotels believed to house ICE agents, blowing whistles and banging drums. Police made 30 arrests.

Political and Media Response

Right-Wing Media and "AWFL" Rhetoric

Conservative commentators have responded to protests against the operation—and to the killing of Renee Good—with rhetoric that critics describe as misogynistic and racially charged.

According to The New York Times, Republican officials and conservative commentators called Good "very violent," a "deranged lunatic woman" and a "domestic terrorist." Some right-wing influencers popularized the acronym "AWFUL" (Affluent White Female Urban Liberal) to describe her and other women protesters.

Conservative commentator Erick Erickson posted on X: "An AWFUL (Affluent White Female Urban Liberal) is dead after running her car into an ICE agent who opened fire on her. Progressive whites are turning violent. ICE agents have the right to defend themselves." Orlando radio host Pierce Outlaw called AWFULs "the scourge of polite society." The term appeared on Wiktionary this month as "AWFL."

Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire posted on X: "This lesbian agitator gave her life to protect 68 IQ Somali scammers who couldn't give less of a shit about her. The most disgraceful and humiliating end a person could possibly meet." (The "68 IQ" claim relies on a single 2017 study published in a white supremacist journal that tested child refugees; the study's authors explicitly questioned whether results could be extrapolated to the nation.)

Author Naomi Wolf, who moved rightward after promoting anti-vaccine ideas, posted on X that liberal men are "disproportionately estrogenized" and "physically passive," leaving liberal women "sexually frustrated" and seeking "all out combat with ICE—who tend to be strong, physically confident, masculine men—because the conflict is a form of physical release for them."

Elon Musk amplified a post to his 232 million followers that asserted: "Liberal women will divorce their husband and only let him see his children once a month, then cry about how ICE hurts families."

Fox News published a column by David Marcus blaming "organized gangs of wine moms" for Good's death, stating "self-important White women" were "mistaking civil disobedience with breaking the law."

Conservative Criticism

Not all conservatives have supported the operation. Former Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock told the Times: "Trump and this administration are heavily misogynist, and that's always a big part of what he does."

Commentator Richard Hanania, a former immigration restrictionist, wrote that "the surge into that state makes absolutely no sense from the perspective of achieving any rational policy goal, and it has even been self-defeating in causing Americans to turn against the restrictionist project." He described the operation as the result of "a word association game drawing together concepts within the confines of minds shaped by hatred towards foreigners and political enemies."

Public Opinion

According to Navigator Research (January 8-12, 2026), 57% of Americans view ICE unfavorably (37% favorable). ICE favorability has dropped significantly since June 2025: by a net 10 points among Democrats (from -71 to -81), 12 points among Independents (from -22 to -34), and 15 points among Republicans (from +60 to +45).

According to YouGov polling, 59% of Americans say ICE has been "too aggressive" in its approach, including 41% of non-MAGA Republicans. A Quinnipiac poll found 57% of voters disapprove of how ICE is enforcing immigration laws.

Summary

Operation Metro Surge represents the largest DHS deployment in history: approximately 3,000 federal agents in a city of 430,000, with 1,500 active-duty soldiers on standby should the president invoke the Insurrection Act. The administration justified the operation by citing welfare fraud cases, though more than 90% of Minnesota's Somali population are legal residents or citizens, and the state's unauthorized immigrant population is half the national average.

The operation has resulted in two civilian deaths (Renee Good on January 7 and a 51-year-old man on January 24), the detention of children as young as 2 years old, documented incidents of U.S. citizens being detained, and multiple federal lawsuits alleging constitutional violations. An internal ICE memo authorized agents to enter homes without judicial warrants, federal judges have rejected arrest warrants for lack of evidence, and an FBI agent resigned after being pressured to stop a civil rights inquiry into the shooting.

By late January 2026 the situation had grown volatile: a second fatal shooting on January 24 prompted Governor Walz to demand Trump "pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now," DHS claimed more than 2,500 arrests since December 1, and 1,500 active-duty soldiers remained on standby. The Justice Department escalated from investigating state officials to issuing grand jury subpoenas to the offices of Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, Mayor Frey, and other Democratic officials.

That legal offensive collapsed on June 22, 2026, when Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz quashed the subpoenas, finding "overwhelming evidence" they were issued "not to investigate, but to harass, coerce and retaliate" against officials for constitutionally protected conduct—a rare judicial determination that the administration weaponized the grand jury process against political opponents. The Justice Department has said it will continue to investigate what it calls unlawful obstruction of federal law enforcement, and it has not said whether it will appeal. Whether this operation—and the judicial pushback against it—sets precedent for similar deployments in other states remains the central question.