Operation Metro Surge is a DHS-led, large-scale interior immigration enforcement initiative launched in early December 2025 focused on identifying, arresting and removing noncitizens the agencies describe as criminal or immigration violators in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and later statewide. The operation is led by DHS law‑enforcement components — primarily U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) (including its Enforcement and Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations units) with support from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other DHS personnel.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is the principal DHS interior enforcement agency; it enforces immigration laws, conducts arrests and removals (through Enforcement and Removal Operations, ERO) and investigates cross‑border crimes (through Homeland Security Investigations, HSI). The DHS releases cite ICE law‑enforcement units as carrying out the arrests named in the announcement.
There is no single statutory term "criminal illegal alien" in federal immigration law; courts and agencies typically use variations such as "criminal alien" to describe a noncitizen who has been convicted of a crime and is therefore subject to removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Removal grounds for convicted noncitizens are set out in the INA (e.g., INA §§ 237(a)(2) covering convictions for crimes).
An ICE detainer (commonly Form I-247 or I-247A) is a request from ICE to a local jail to notify ICE before a noncitizen is released and to hold the person up to 48 hours (excluding weekends/holidays) so ICE can assume custody; compliance is voluntary for most jurisdictions and courts have limited its legal authority — detainers do not themselves convert a local criminal case into a federal immigration charge.
"Sanctuary" policies are local or state rules that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement (for example by refusing to honor ICE detainers, barring officer access to jails without judicial process, or restricting information-sharing). In Minnesota, city and county practices vary; Minneapolis and St. Paul have policies and officials that have resisted federal cooperation, and state/local officials (including the governor and some city leaders) publicly criticized the federal surge — specific county jail cooperation varies by jurisdiction. (There is no single statewide "sanctuary" designation.)
After ICE or DHS arrests/detains someone, typical next steps are: local criminal proceedings (if charged with state/local crimes) continue; ICE/ERO may lodge a detainer or request transfer to federal custody for immigration proceedings; detained noncitizens can be placed in ICE custody pending removal proceedings before an immigration court (EOIR) and/or administrative removal; deportation (removal) requires an immigration process — not every arrest leads to removal if legal or humanitarian bars apply.
The DHS Feb. 2, 2026 release lists multiple named arrests over the cited weekend but does not give a single total number for that weekend; DHS previously said Operation Metro Surge began Dec. 1, 2025 and other DHS statements have claimed hundreds to thousands of arrests overall (DHS/ICE have at times cited figures in the hundreds or thousands), but independent, consistently verified nationwide totals for the operation vary by source and are disputed in ongoing reporting and litigation.