ICE agents search a truck passenger and arrest him and the driver during a traffic stop Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, on Bottineau Blvd. in Robbinsdale. (Photo: Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
President Trump’s border czar announced the imminent end of Operation Metro Surge on Thursday, claiming the success of an unprecedented federal raid that brought thousands of immigration officials into the state despite opposition from local Democratic leaders and led to mass protests and two deaths.
“The Twin Cities and Minnesota in general are and will continue to be much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump’s leadership,” Border Czar Tom Homan said during a Thursday morning news conference.
The announcement comes just over two weeks after Homan arrived in the state and took control of an operation that by all accounts had spiraled out of control.
Over the past month, immigration agents I shot three people, killing two; with a racial profile people by asking them to do so provide proof of legal residence; detained legal immigrants and sent them across state linesincluding tiny children; caused numerous car crashes; distributed chemical irritants on public school premises; broke car windows observers and arrested them before releasing them without charge; AND threatened journalists who filmed them from a distance in public spaces, including other high-profile events.
“A small number of staff will remain for a period of time to close the division and transfer full command and control back to the field office,” Homan said.
The Trump administration began sending federal agents to the state slow last year, and the number has grown to 3,000 in what the Department of Homeland Security called its largest operation in history. Homan announced the start of payouts last week, pulling out 700 immigration agents from Minnesota.
Homan said he has established significant cooperation with local law enforcement and has seen a reduction in “agitator behavior” that disrupts immigration operations, two key conditions he set at a news conference last week to get the full payout.
Local sheriff’s offices will notify ICE when people of interest are released from jail, a common practice sheriffs have said has been going on for years. Homan said he is not asking sheriffs to detain people after their scheduled release, which is a violation of Minnesota law, according to an opinion issued last year by Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Homan, who apparently it was being investigated for receiving $50,000 in cash from an undercover FBI agent in 2024 as part of an alleged bribery scheme, said the fraud investigation staff would remain.
This story was originally produced by Minnesota reformerswhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes Pennsylvania Capital-Star, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
