Border Czar Announces Metro Surge Drawdown in Minnesota; Target Among Employers Affected

White House border czar Tom Homan announced on Feb. 12 that Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota will be drawn down, saying, "I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude," and adding, "Operation Metro Surge is ending." Reuters reported the months-long deployment had put about 3,000 armed immigration agents into Minnesota by late January, a dramatic increase from a usual presence of roughly 150.

The surge began roughly two-plus months before the Feb. 12 announcement, described by advocacy groups as "months-long," and Reuters said many immigration enforcement agents were set to return to their home states "over the next week." The Advocates for Human Rights described the operation as involving "more than 2,000 federal agents," a lower figure than Reuters' count but one that the group used to outline its allegations of harm.

The deployment produced violent confrontations in Minneapolis in January. Reuters reported, "On different days in January, immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who had come out to protest or observe the agents." Reuters also said a local prosecutor has vowed to continue investigation of federal agents involved in the incidents as scrutiny mounted.

The operation prompted large street protests across the Twin Cities, with Reuters reporting local people "filled the streets of the state's biggest cities in protest, sometimes by the thousands." Minnesota Governor Tim Walz condemned the enforcement surge and said the "long road to recovery starts now," according to Reuters' summary of his remarks.

Civil-rights group The Advocates for Human Rights issued a Feb. 12 statement accusing the operation of broader abuses, saying it has "killed Minnesota residents on the streets and in detention centers, harmed and injured numerous others through violent retaliation and wanton disregard for human life, trampled on constitutional rights, embraced racial profiling, thrown lives into chaos, and impeded access to education and medical care." Garnett McKenzie of The Advocates said, "DHS has for far too long been handed billions in blank checks without accountability. DHS's resources, combined with gaps in our immigration laws, allow them to inflict serious harm. Operation Metro Surge has simply exposed these long-standing problems in stark daylight."

The Department of Homeland Security and ICE framed the operation differently in a Dec. 4 press release cited by Fox News, saying arrests included "some of the worst criminal illegal aliens, including child sex offenders, domestic abusers and violent gang members." Fox News reported that in that initial DHS release ICE listed arrests of five Somalis and six Hispanic aliens with criminal backgrounds.

Operational disruptions to businesses and services in the Twin Cities were reported as a consequence of the deployment and the protests. The editor-provided story title for this piece cites Target among affected local employers; the material reviewed for this article does not include specific details about closures, staffing impacts, or operational changes at Target, and those items remain to be verified. Reuters noted agents were expected to leave Minnesota in the coming week as the drawdown begins.

The surge also had political and budgetary fallout. Fox News reported the confrontations and public reaction "derailed congressional considerations for the agency's 2026 funding, thrusting it into a partial shutdown on Friday." With the White House concurrence Homan cited, the administration said the Minnesota surge will end, even as local prosecutors and rights groups press investigations and reviews of actions taken during the operation.