The federal government says Operation Metro Surge is concluding after thousands of arrests. State leaders say the damage isn’t over — and neither are the investigations.
Transcript
I’m Xan Holston. Federal officials say Operation Metro Surge is ending — but questions remain.
--HOMAN ANNOUNCES END OF OPERATION METRO SURGE--
[TOM HOMAN: I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude.]
Thursday morning, Border Czar Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge — the massive federal immigration crackdown that started more than ten weeks ago.
The operation brought 3,000 immigration agents to the state and left two citizens dead.
[TOM HOMAN: A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week.]
Homan says he’s remaining in Minnesota to oversee the withdrawal and deploy agents back to their home stations or other parts of the country.
Homan claims Metro Surge netted more than 4,000 arrests, including 200 protesters.
He also claimed — for the first time and with no evidence — that the agency has found more than 3,000 missing children.
[TOM HOMAN: ICE here in this state have located 3,364 missing unaccompanied alien children, children that the last administration lost and weren't even looking for.]
North Star Stories reached out to DHS — the Department of Homeland Security — for clarification about the claim.
In an email, DHS responded with a written statement pointing to about 15 individuals the agency claims are violent criminals who sponsored unaccompanied immigrant children in the U.S. None had ties to Minnesota.
--WALZ RESPONSE TO END OF SURGE--
[TIM WALZ: Over the past six weeks, the state of Minnesota and the people of this great state have endured an unprecedented federal invasion in all aspects of life.]
[DROP BENEATH NARRATION]
At his own press conference Thursday, Governor Tim Walz struck a hopeful — and defiant — tone.
[TIM WALZ: We've been through challenges. We've been through natural disasters. We've been through COVID. But this is something that I don't think any state has ever experienced.]
It’s unclear what prompted the end of Operation Metro Surge. Walz says the state hasn’t made any new agreements with ICE or changed how it works with federal agents.
[TIM WALZ: The way the state of Minnesota is addressing immigration is exactly the same today as it was three weeks ago or three months ago or three years ago.]
He believes that after agents killed Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti — along with weeks of protests, lawsuits and mounting public pressure — the political cost became too high.
[TIM WALZ: An issue the President saw himself as being strong — certainly politically — has eroded into an albatross around their neck.]
Walz said he’s cautiously optimistic that the surge is finally done. He expects the number of agents in the state to drop to the pre-surge level of 150.
In his press conference, Homan didn’t say how many agents would remain in the state.
But just hours after both press conferences ended — in a direct email response to questions from North Star Stories — DHS sent a statement that appeared to complicate that message.
[DHS: Homeland Security Investigators will remain surged to Minneapolis as we continue our widescale investigation to identify, arrest and hold accountable bad actors.]
The statement also claims DHS has arrested more than 11,000 people it calls criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans and hurting children in Minneapolis.
North Star Stories has requested — and will continue to request — evidence supporting those claims.
Walz, meanwhile, says Minnesota is turning to recovery — and wants Washington to foot the bill.
[TIM WALZ: The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. […] You don't get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it.]
Though the Metro Surge news overshadowed it, Walz had called the press conference to announce an economic recovery plan for businesses hurt by Operation Metro Surge.
According to Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Matt Varilek, that package includes 10 million dollars in partially forgivable small-business loans for…
[MATT VARILEK: Businesses with annual revenues between 200,000 and four million — so it's targeting small businesses.]
Varilek says the loans would be interest-free for three years and worth up to 25-thousand dollars.
[MATT VARILEK: After one year, there would be an opportunity to seek 50 percent forgiveness on the basis of proving that you have had substantial impacts from the presence of the federal agents.]
The state Legislature, which begins meeting again next week, would still need to approve the loan program.
North Star Stories, I’m Xan Holston.