Operation Metro Surge is a large-scale Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enforcement campaign in Minnesota, begun in early December 2025, that floods the Twin Cities area with federal agents to carry out intensified immigration arrests and related fraud investigations. DHS says the surge has led to more than 1,500 arrests of people it labels “criminal illegal aliens” in Minnesota. The main agencies involved are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — including both Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — under DHS leadership, with other DHS law-enforcement components supporting the effort.
ICE and DHS do not use a single statutory definition of “criminal illegal alien,” but in practice they use it to mean a non‑U.S. citizen who is removable under immigration law and who also has criminal charges or convictions. ICE’s Criminal Alien Program and “Worst of the Worst” materials describe their enforcement priority as noncitizens who are deportable and who have criminal records (especially for violent, sexual, drug, gang, or repeat immigration offenses) or are wanted for serious crimes.
The DHS Minneapolis press release describes convictions such as sexual assault, drug trafficking, and identity theft, but it does not specify where each conviction occurred. However, all listed offenses use U.S. criminal-law terms, and ICE’s “Worst of the Worst” and Criminal Alien Program materials state that these campaigns focus on noncitizens with criminal convictions in the United States. Based on this, the convictions described are overwhelmingly likely to have been adjudicated in U.S. courts, though the release does not explicitly confirm this for every case.
After ICE arrests someone in an operation like this, two parallel tracks usually follow:
In the DHS Minneapolis release, ICE emphasizes that those arrested are removable noncitizens with prior criminal convictions, meaning most will enter or continue immigration removal proceedings, with deportation as ICE’s stated goal.
“Worst of the Worst” is a DHS/ICE branding and public‑relations initiative, not a legally defined status. DHS’s “Arrested: Worst of the Worst” and ICE’s “Worst of the Worst” pages are searchable, public databases that highlight noncitizens ICE says are among the most dangerous criminal or fugitive cases — typically people with serious violent, sexual, gang, or repeat immigration offenses, or wanted for major crimes.
People are added when ICE or DHS communications staff choose to feature a case after an arrest or removal; there is no formal application, hearing, or statutory threshold beyond the agencies’ own criteria for what they call “heinous” or high‑profile crimes.
Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey strongly criticized both Operation Metro Surge and DHS’s rhetoric. Before and after the January 7 Minneapolis arrests and shooting, they:
• Condemned the surge as politically motivated and harmful to public safety, with Walz calling it part of a “war that’s being waged against Minnesota.” • Objected to ICE’s tactics in neighborhoods and around schools and said federal agents were undermining trust in law enforcement. • After an ICE agent fatally shot a Minneapolis woman during the same surge, Frey publicly told ICE to “get the f‑‑‑ out of Minneapolis,” and Walz demanded investigations and limits on ICE operations in the state.
Neither Walz nor Frey accepted DHS’s claim that they had “refused” to make Minnesota safe; instead, they argued that DHS’s actions were destabilizing communities rather than protecting them.