The Trump administration has announced the end of a massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota after two and a half months of protests, 4,000 arrests and two fatal shootings by immigration officers.
Two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretty, were killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. Here’s a look at some of the key moments during Operation Metro Surge, which the Department of Homeland Security has called “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever.”
Immigration proceedings begin after weeks of President Donald Trump’s increasing rhetoric Criticism of Minnesota’s Somali community.
Operation Metro Surge focuses on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to the country’s largest Somali community. Trump claimed that immigrants from Somalia were “completely taking over the once-great state of Minnesota.” He later referred to Somali residents as “trash” during a cabinet meeting.
State and local leaders pushed back. Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz said Trump condemned all Minnesotans and his expression of contempt towards the Somali community was “unprecedented for a President of the United States”.
According to US Census Bureau data, an estimated 260,000 people of Somali origin were living in the US in 2024. It includes approximately 84,000 residents of the Minneapolis area, the majority of whom are US citizens.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced that 12 people arrested Six Mexican nationals, five from Somalia and one from El Salvador were involved in the operation.
federal agents use pepper spray to push past a crowd of protesters who stopped their vehicles while checking identity in the heavily Somali neighborhood.
When agents approached the city-owned senior housing complex, a group of protesters blew whistles to sound the alarm and confronted agents, who responded with pepper spray.
similar protests This would become common practice throughout the Twin Cities in the coming weeks, with a wide network of residents working to help immigrants, warning people about approaching agents or filming immigration officers’ actions to share with the world.
five new defendants He has been charged in connection with an ongoing investigation of Minnesota Housing Services fraud, after authorities say he stole money instead of helping Medicaid recipients find stable housing.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson says as much $9 billion in federal funds I may have been stolen multi-layered fraud schemeAs a result, charges have been filed against at least 92 people.
Trump took full advantage of fraud cases target somalia migrants In minnesota. Eighty-two of the 92 defendants in child nutrition, housing services and autism program plans are Somali American, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota.
more federal immigration officers move to minnesota Following new allegations of fraud at Somali-run day care centers posted online by right-wing influencers.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel both announced increased immigration operations in Minnesota.
Trump administration has also announced this freezing child care funds To the state.
Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three shot dead By an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Good’s murder was recorded on video by witnesses, sparking nationwide outrage.
Noem claims the incident was an “act of domestic terrorism” committed against ICE officers, and Vice Chairman J.D. Vance later claimed that the officer fired in self-defense because Good was trying to hit him with his vehicle. But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has condemned that explanation, Walz and others based on video Of conflict.
Video Videos filmed by bystanders challenged the administration’s story. It is not clear in the video who the car contacted OfficerWho first shoots while standing in front of the vehicle and then stands on the side of the car and shoots twice at an arm’s length from the driver’s side window.
A new video Shows the minutes before Good is shot and killed by a federal immigration officer.
The 3 1/2 minute long video, filmed by a bystander, was posted to X by the Department of Homeland Security. It shows two officers walking toward Good’s car as it blocks a section of the road.
Another video filmed by the officer who shot good Shows one officer asks Good to get out of the car and another tries to open his door. The officer who is circling in front of the vehicle. Good briefly reverses – placing the filming officer in front of the driver’s side of the vehicle – and then turns her steering wheel to the passenger side of the vehicle. An officer orders him out of the car as his wife, who is standing outside the vehicle, yells, “Drive, baby, drive!”
The vehicle moves forward, the video pans upward and gunshots are heard.
is a 51 year old Venezuelan man shot in the leg By ICE agents.
Authorities say the non-fatal shooting occurred after the officer was attacked by two other men with a shovel and a broom handle while he was trying to arrest the Venezuelan man.
Protestors and federal officers continued to hold a standoff near the site of the shooting, with officers firing tear gas into the crowd while protesters threw snowballs and chanted, “Our streets.”
The same day, an immigrant from Nicaragua was also swept up in Operation Metro Surge has been found dead on one Texas Immigration Detention Facility.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement say it appears Victor Manuel Diaz killed himself, but the death remains under investigation.
Another prisoner in the same detention facility Died in early January. ICE said the death occurred when staff members tried to stop him from killing himself, but a fellow detainee said at least five officers were restraining the handcuffed detainee and one had an arm around his neck. A preliminary investigation by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office found that 55-year-old Lunas Campos died of asphyxiation due to chest and neck compression and said the death would likely be classified as a homicide.
Federal immigration agents broke down the front door of a Minnesota home and detained a US citizen At gunpoint without any warrant. They then took him out into the streets in his underwear in sub-freezing conditions.
The same day, the US Department of Justice announces that he is investigating A group of protesters in Minnesota disrupted services at a church where a local officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement serves as pastor.
A livestream video of the protest shows a group of people disrupting services by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Goode”.
A 5 year old boy Upon arriving home from preschool she is taken by federal agents to a detention facility in Texas along with her father.
Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Jenna Stevinick told reporters that federal agents took Liam Conejo Ramos from a moving car in the family’s driveway, and then told them to knock on the door of their home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using the 5-year-old as bait.”
Stevanick said the family has an active asylum case and have not been ordered to leave the country.
Federal officials deny the school official’s allegations.
Trump administration officials announced that a prominent civil rights attorney and at least two other people were involved in a protest that disrupted a church service. has been arrested.
Alex PreethiIs a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a VA hospital shot dead By a US Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis.
Preeti was an American citizen and, like Good, had no criminal record. He was a licensed gun owner with a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and was wearing a gun holster on the day he died.
Videos shot by bystanders Shows Preeti with only a phone in her hand, as she steps between an immigration agent and a woman on the street, when the agent pushes the woman away. The officer pushes Preeti in the chest and sprays pepper on her and the woman.
At least seven officers began to force Preeti to the ground, and pulled her arms behind her back as she began to resist. An officer holding a canister hit him several times near the head. The agents appear to disrobe him.
The first shot is fired by a border patrol officer, and after a pause the same officer shoots Preeti several times in the back.
Use of force experts say viewer video Federal officials’ claims weakened That the Border Patrol officer fired defensively.
Trump administration reshuffles leadership of Operation Metro Surge Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino And some agents are leaving Minneapolis.
Trump’s border czar, Tom HomanWill be in charge of the action, Trump announced.
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father returned to minnesota Following a judge’s order.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced more arrests In connection with the Jan. 18 protest at City Church in St. Paul. Freelance journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Forte were also among those arrested.
Border czar Tom Homan announces end of Operation Metro Surge.
The announcement is unusual – immigration officials did not announce a formal end to similar operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere. ___ Several Associated Press journalists contributed to this story.
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