This page contains Unicorn Riot coverage related to the U.S. government’s largest-ever immigration operation, the deadly Operation Metro Surge. View the embedded playlist of over 60 videos and view our published articles by clicking on titles below.
Operation Metro Surge was announced by the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a campaign starting on December 1, 2025. Thousands of violent, masked federal agents swarmed the urban districts of the Twin Cities and beat, threatened, detained and even fatally shot people. This has been met by a wide-ranging movement of organized resistance, mobilizing community members across political, class, and generational divides to use a myriad of tactics in response to the government’s violence.
Operating out of the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, agents detained thousands of people. Many were quickly sent via flights from the MSP airport to squalid detention camps like Camp East Montana in Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. In complete disregard of U.S. laws, federal agencies violated nearly 100 court orders in a matter of weeks.
On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good while she was acting as a community observer monitoring agents’ activity. On January 14, federal agents shot Julio Sosa Celis in an altercation during an attempted arrest. And on January 24, Customs and Border Protection agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in the street as he tried to protect a woman being assaulted by agents.
Protests, which were already underway before each of the violent incidents listed above, intensified in the days and weeks following. Good’s shocking killing acted as a flashpoint for communities who had been struggling against ICE activity in the area for weeks. Federal authorities have refused to share investigative data about these shootings with state officials.
Earlier in 2025, Operation Metro Surge was foreshadowed by the Bro-Tex raid in St. Paul on November 18, and a June 3 Lake Street Homeland Security Task Force raid. Several Minnesota counties link up operationally with ICE via the 287(g) program and garner revenue from detaining immigrants for ICE. On July 30, 2019, Jewish community members with a “Never Again” message blockaded the Whipple Building.
Watch UR’s YouTube playlist for a majority of our published videos from ICE in Minnesota in 2025-2026.
View UR’s articles below from latest to oldest.
March 2026
Protesters Fill Minnesota Capitol, Read Letters from Children Held in Immigration Custody
Trump Admin Targets Press and Activists in Minnesota, Indicts ‘The Righteous 39’
Tenants Call on Minneapolis City Council to Override Mayor’s Veto on Eviction Protections
Police Mass Arrest Protesters Again After Whipple Protest, Ending Week of Action
Sunday, February 15 – Saturday, February 28, 2026
‘Melt the ICE’ Organizers Share Lessons Ahead of Week of Action Against ICE
‘I’m a U.S. Citizen and I was arrested by ICE,’ A Statement from a Legal Observer in Minneapolis
Sunday, February 8 – Saturday, February 14, 2026
The Many Humiliations of White Supremacist Jake Lang
Dozens Arrested After Throwing Dildos at ICE Outside Whipple Federal Building
ICE in Minnesota — Day 68: Day of Protests, One Month Since Feds Killed Renee Good
Sunday, February 1 – Saturday, February 7, 2026
Minnesota Students Arrested After Locking Down to Morrill Hall, Demanding Sanctuary Campus
State and Local Police Make Mass Arrest Again at Fourth Graduate Noise Demo
Sunday, January 25 – Saturday, January 31, 2026
State and Local Police Make Mass Arrest After Noise Demo at Hotel Housing ICE Agents
Independent Journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon Arrested by Feds Along With Three More Activists
Conspiracies Bloom After Right Discovers Public Signal Groups
Federal Agents Crash Noise Demo at Hotel, Escort Masked Guests With Luggage Out
Tens of Thousands Demand ‘ICE Out of Minnesota’ During Day of Action
Sunday, January 18 – Saturday, January 24, 2026
Federal Agents Kill a Second Person in South Minneapolis
Right-Wing Influencers Desperate to Find an Insurrection in Minneapolis
Far-Right Provocateur Jake Lang Chased Out of Minneapolis During Hate Rally
Sunday, January 11 – Saturday, January 17, 2026
Jake Lang’s Campaign of Terror
ICE Shoots Second Person in Minneapolis, Community Responds
ICE in Minnesota – Day 44: Community Calls for Walkout Day Next Friday, Protests Continue
Large Noise Demo Against ICE Crashed by Police Who Arrest 30
Sunday, January 4 – Saturday, January 10, 2026
DHS and Protesters Face off at Whipple Federal Building
ICE Agents Alter Tactics, Work With Impunity While Violating US Citizens’ Rights in Minnesota
ICE Agent Fatally Shoots Observer Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis
Sunday, December 7 – Saturday, December 13, 2025
Insight from the Bro-Tex Raid: What Activists Saw While Confronting ICE
Sunday, November 23 – Saturday, December 6, 2025
ICE Targets Somali Community in Minneapolis
Documenting Deportation Flights at MSP Airport
November 2025
Poet’s Federal Trial Set For February, Community Continues Support
September 2025
Minneapolis Community Rallies Behind Isabel Lopez to Demand Feds Drop Charges
June 2025
Plainclothes Feds Arrest Poet After Interview With Press, Unseal Conflated Complaint
ICE-Led ‘Homeland Security Task Force’ Raid Draws Large Mobilization in Minneapolis
May 2025
See our 2018-2020 Icebreaker series HERE – leaked internal ICE Homeland Security Investigations agent manuals.
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