In a visit to Minnesota on Oct. 24, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency\u2019s efforts in Minnesota resulted in the removal of 4,300 individuals \u201coff of our streets.\u201d <\/p>\n
Those estimates, paired together with the newest arrest counts from DHS, could mean DHS would have had to arrest roughly 2,700 people between Oct. 24 and Dec. 1 when the operation began \u2014 that\u2019s about 70 arrests per day. <\/p>\n
At a <\/p>\n
hearing before Minnesota senators on ICE<\/a><\/p>\n on Thursday, Jan. 29. John Boehler, policy counsel with the ACLU of Minnesota, said he and his colleagues don\u2019t have access to the information behind the numbers DHS is citing. State and city leaders also have been unable to confirm the number of arrests when asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThey say they have arrested 10,000 immigrants with criminal records. We have no reason to believe that number is accurate,\u201d Boehler said. \u201cThere\u2019s no comprehensive list of names, records, immigration status, criminal history or present detention status has been provided.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not clear how many of these people are detained in Minnesota or have been transferred to another state, or out of the country.<\/p>\n Federal and local cooperation discrepancies<\/p>\n In a Jan. 19 news release, DHS claimed that Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have <\/p>\n more than 1,360 detainers<\/a><\/p>\n they have not honored for undocumented immigrants \u201cin the custody across all jurisdictions in Minnesota.\u201d It\u2019s not clear how many of the 1,360 detainers are for individuals in state prisons or jails.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) has spoken out since the beginning of the Operation Metro Surge, disputing claims from federal agencies that the state fights <\/p>\n immigration detainers.<\/a><\/p>\n Minnesota law requires DOC to notify ICE when someone committed to a DOC facility is not a U.S. citizen. The DOC says it complies with this requirement and honors detainers, even though state law does not require detainer compliance.<\/p>\n The DOC also says that ICE alone determines whether to place a detainer and is in charge of arranging pickup.<\/p>\n In 2025, ICE placed detainers on 83 people being released from prison, which the DOC honored and transferred to ICE, according to the DOC. In 2026 so far, ICE has had detainers on nine people that the DOC has also transferred to ICE custody, according to the DOC.<\/p>\n On a state level, the DOC cooperates with ICE. However, certain cities, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as counties such as Hennepin, do have separation ordinances or individual sets of rules on cooperation with federal partners.<\/p>\n For example, Olmsted, Wabasha and Goodhue counties do notify ICE if a person who has an ICE detainer is booked into their jails. But there are limits and separate policies for how long each jail can hold a detainer, the <\/p>\n Rochester Post Bulletin reported.<\/a><\/p>\n White House border czar <\/p>\n Tom Homan said on Wednesday, Feb. 4,<\/a><\/p>\n that he is now seeing an \u201cunprecedented\u201d amount of cooperation from Minnesota counties, and thanked the state for their already existing cooperation. He clarified that he is not asking jails to hold detainers longer than they normally would \u2014 just for notification. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is efficient. Requires only one or two officers to assume custody of criminal alien target, rather than eight or 10 officers going into the community and arresting that public safety threat,\u201d Homan said. \u201cThis frees up more officers to arrest or remove criminal aliens, more officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails, means less officers on the street doing criminal operations.\u201d <\/p>\n Another source of confusion is the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s \u201cWorst of the Worst\u201d database. A note at the top of the website says the list highlights the \u201cworst criminal aliens arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n As of Wednesday, Feb. 4, the database shows about 20,250 people who have been arrested, purportedly by ICE, around the country.<\/p>\n Searching by <\/p>\n \u201cMinnesota,\u201d there are almost 500<\/a><\/p>\n entries listed. Some of those people have charges, arrests or convictions listed: A man convicted of sex assault arrested in Moose Lake; a man convicted on a drug charge arrested in Bloomington; another convicted of mail fraud and arrested in Elk River.<\/p>\n At a Wednesday morning news conference, Homan listed some stats on who federal agents have arrested: 14 people with homicide convictions, 28 gang members,139 assault convictions and 87 sex offenses. <\/p>\n \u201cJust to name a few, we\u2019ve taken a lot of bad people off the street,\u201d Homan said. <\/p>\n A review by the Rochester Post Bulletin found <\/p>\n that for the 18 people listed as arrested in Rochester<\/a><\/p>\n in ICE\u2019s \u201cWorst of the Worst\u201d database, the charges don\u2019t match the federal convictions that previously put some detainers in federal custody.<\/p>\n The DOC also reported that at least <\/p>\n 68 of those people<\/a><\/p>\n claimed to have been arrested by ICE and listed on the \u201cWorst of the Worst\u201d were <\/p>\n handed over from DOC facilities,<\/a><\/p>\n several of the transfers occurring before Operation Metro Surge.<\/p>\n Tom Homan, who was appointed “border czar” by President Donald Trump, looks on as he speaks to the media outside the White House in Washington on Jan. 14, 2026.<\/p>\n Evelyn Hockstein \/ Reuters<\/p>\n \u201cMinnesota DOC honors ICE detainers and coordinates custody transfers every day. Those transfers are documented, scheduled, and verifiable,\u201d the state Department of Corrections said in a news release. \u201cWhat is troubling is DHS taking credit for \u2019arrests\u2019 which are, in reality, state-to-federal handoffs occurring at prison facilities after individuals complete their state terms of imprisonment, as has been the long-standing practice.\u201d<\/p>\n Another analysis from the Post Bulletin found that of 64 people listed as DHS\u2019s \u201cWorst of the Worst,\u201d most of those taken into custody in Rochester, were <\/p>\n federal prisoners transferred from border states to the Federal Medical Center.<\/a><\/p>\n There is also a handful of reports of U.S. citizens being <\/p>\n wrongfully detained<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 including <\/p>\n Native Americans<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 as well as several reports of <\/p>\n protesters or bystanders being detained<\/a><\/p>\n for impeding on operations and later being released without charges.<\/p>\n Boehler with the ACLU called the surge \u201cone of the largest deprivations of constitutional protections in the history of our state,\u201d and said the ACLU has tracked 500 reports of constitutional violations since the operation began.<\/p>\n How many federal agents are there in Minnesota?<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security has said there are approximately 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota, and that Operation Metro Surge is the \u201clargest immigration operation ever,\u201d ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons <\/p>\n said in January<\/a><\/p>\n when an extra surge of 2,000 agents was sent to Minnesota. <\/p>\n Homan announced on Wednesday that 700 federal agents would be pulled from the state \u201ceffective today.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Operation Metro Surge, the status quo for <\/p>\n federal agents in the state was 80,<\/a><\/p>\n Sara Lathrop, attorney with the city of Minneapolis, said during a hearing for a lawsuit challenging the lawfulness of ICE\u2019s operations in Minnesota.<\/p>\n Other states have seen a surge in the presence of federal agents, such as Illinois, Georgia and Tennessee, with Tennessee reporting <\/p>\n![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/aec10a2\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6500x4335+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F5b%2F98%2F946cd5094a2fb4aa089e0088be97%2F2026-01-14t173549z-960803647-rc241jaq1ted-rtrmadp-3-usa-trump.JPG\")
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