Operation Metro Surge is a large interior immigration‑enforcement operation launched by the Department of Homeland Security in December 2025 focused on the Twin Cities and later expanded statewide; it is led by DHS components (primarily U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — including Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)) and has involved Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel and other DHS law‑enforcement assets, according to DHS and multiple news reports.
In DHS usage the term “criminal illegal alien” refers to a non‑citizen whom DHS says has been convicted of, or charged with, crimes and who is subject to immigration enforcement; it is a policy/press term rather than a legal category under immigration law.
A “final order of removal” is an administratively or judicially issued order under U.S. immigration law (typically from an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals) finding the non‑citizen removable; once final, it makes the person subject to deportation and immigration custody/transport unless reopened, stayed, or otherwise lawfully challenged.
ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is the DHS agency that enforces interior immigration laws (through ERO) and investigates transnational crime (through HSI); ICE has authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to arrest non‑citizens for civil immigration violations, take custody of removable persons, and—working with DOJ and immigration courts—effectuate removals (deportations).
DHS’s release identifies individuals and lists some convictions and some pending charges: convictions (per DHS) include first‑degree kidnapping, robbery, felony larceny, assault on an officer with a firearm (Bee Yang); convictions for selling heroin (Ian Mwangi Irungu), assault (Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana), child‑endangering (Wilson Johny Encalada Molina—convicted of endangering the welfare of a child), and multiple DUI counts and document fraud (Oliverio Otoniel Francisco‑Esteban); charges still described as allegations include rape in the third degree and malicious punishment of a child (Wilson Johny Encalada Molina is charged with those counts). DHS’s statement is the source; court records or state prosecutors’ offices should be checked to confirm criminal case status.
DHS/ICE say they coordinate with local jails and law‑enforcement through custody transfers, arrests at or after local jail releases, and (in some cases) use of information‑sharing, detainer/notification requests or interagency agreements; specifics (e.g., whether an individual was transferred from a county jail or released and later arrested by ICE) are case‑by‑case and depend on local policies and any formal agreements (287(g), detainer practices, or lawo enforcement notifications).
wow.dhs.gov is DHS’s public “Worst of the Worst” site that lists non‑citizens DHS says were arrested during enforcement operations; the Minnesota page provides names, alleged/convicted offenses, country of origin, and arrest locations as compiled by DHS.