‘Families torn apart, businesses closed’: Minnesota leaders, workers say ICE surge left lasting impact

Record ID: 2364434

  • Title: ‘Families torn apart, businesses closed’: Minnesota leaders, workers say ICE surge left lasting impact
  • Date: 14th March 2026
  • Summary: MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 12, 2026) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS DRONE FOOTAGE OF DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS AT SUNRISE MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 11, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR, JACOB FREY, SAYING: “Throughout a huge portion of Operation Metro Surge, we had these roaming gangs of ICE agents marching down the street d
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: ICE Immigration Minneapolis Minnesota Trump
  • Location: MINNEAPOLIS + SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES
  • City: MINNEAPOLIS + SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001392013032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS PROFANITY
    City leaders and small businesses say the U.S. federal immigration enforcement effort known as 'Operation Metro Surge' has left a lasting economic and social impact across the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro area.
    “Families were torn apart, businesses were closed… this has been economically devastating for our city,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
    “We had these roaming gangs of ICE agents marching down the street discriminating only on the basis of are you Somali, are you Latino, are you Southeast Asian, and then indiscriminate pickups thereafter. You can't do that," he added.
    Federal officials say the operation was launched to target individuals with criminal warrants and that agents were acting within established enforcement guidelines.
    Frey estimates the months-long Department of Homeland Security operation caused about $203 million in total economic damage to the Twin Cities in January 2026 alone.
    Rey Escobar Sanchez says his family’s Mexican restaurant, 'Best Tacos', has been struggling substantially since the operation began and the recent drawdown of agents hasn’t helped bring customers back.
    “I think that's mainly the reason why business is slow, just people are scared to come out,” Escobar Sanchez said.
    Community advocates warn the emotional impact may last long after the enforcement effort ends, with many residents still afraid to leave their homes.
    “This (Operation Metro Surge) is going to have a lasting effect,” said Rachel Michel, a rapid response team member tasked with helping people wrongfully arrested by federal immigration officials get resources after they’ve been released from detention.
    “The trauma that these people are experiencing firsthand, secondhand, whatever level of connection they have is going to impact them for the rest of their lives. This is not going to be something that they forget about and just move on from.”
    A Minnesota prosecutor said earlier this month her office is investigating the "potentially unlawful behaviour" of federal agents during a crackdown earlier this year on undocumented immigrants that met widespread resistance and in which agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens, sparking nationwide outrage.
    Federal officials have said the shootings are under internal review and have urged the public not to draw conclusions until those investigations are complete.
    Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, whose jurisdiction includes Minneapolis, said at a news conference that her office had created a portal that would allow the public to send in videos and other evidence of incidents they witnessed in which they think Gregory Bovino, who once called himself the "commander at large" of the U.S. Border Patrol, and other federal agents committed a crime.
    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Border Patrol and ICE, said in a written statement that investigating federal officers "does nothing to make Minnesota safer."
    "Politicians are laying blame at the feet of law enforcement instead of looking in the mirror at how they have fueled the hatred and violent attacks we are seeing against federal law enforcement officers," a DHS spokesperson wrote in an emailed reply, noting that assaults, vehicular attacks and death threats against federal immigration agents had spiked in the past year.
    DHS added that "federal officials acting in the course of their duties are immune from liability under state law."
    (Production: Eric Cox)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register