Overview
- DHS and ICE publicized new Operation Metro Surge arrests in Minnesota, citing a murder convict and a person with 24 convictions, while urging Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to honor more than 1,360 detainers.
- The Minnesota Department of Corrections called the federal claims unsupported, saying only 207 non‑U.S. citizens are in state prison custody and that 84 people with ICE detainers were released in 2025 with advance notice and coordinated transfers.
- MPR News reviewed a DHS list and found many individuals touted as recent arrests had been transferred from Minnesota prisons to ICE before the Dec. 1, 2025 surge, with some never in DOC custody.
- Local policies differ: Hennepin County says it does not comply with civil ICE requests without a judge’s order, while some counties contract with ICE to hold detainees.
- A Minnesota attorney general opinion says state law bars holding someone on an immigration detainer if they would otherwise be released, and ICE says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state though the share with criminal records is unclear.