2,000 Federal Agents Descend on Minneapolis in Major Immigration Crackdown

Midnight Arrivals

Minneapolis—The first chartered flights touched down at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International just after 11 p.m. Tuesday. By sunrise, convoys of dark SUVs had fanned out across the city’s north side, their license plates reading US GOVT beneath thin layers of road salt and ice.

‘They’re asking for papers in the laundromat’

At the Central Laundromat on Lowry Avenue, 19-year-old college student Daniela Morales was folding towels when two agents in navy windbreakers approached.

They flipped open badges and asked everyone for ID. One woman started crying; her toddler clung to her leg.

Within minutes, agents escorted a man in a green parka outside. Witnesses say he did not return.

The Scope of the Operation

Department of Homeland Security officials confirm 2,000 personnel—drawn from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service, and Customs and Border Protection—will spend the next three weeks conducting what they term a targeted fraud and immigration enforcement surge. The stated focus: undocumented migrants accused of using fake work documents to obtain warehouse and food-processing jobs across Hennepin County.

Numbers in the Crosshairs

• At least 47 search warrants have already been served at residences in Brooklyn Center, Richfield, and Northeast Minneapolis.
• Homeland Security Investigations alleges more than 3,200 fraudulent I-9 forms were submitted by local staffing agencies since 2022.
• Officials say they expect several hundred arrests, though civil-rights groups fear the dragnet will sweep up bystanders.

Community Response

By dawn, volunteers from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Coalition were broadcasting live on Facebook in Spanish and Somali, advising residents to keep doors locked and to request warrants in writing. At a hastily organized press conference, Mayor Aisha Hassan warned:

We will not allow federal agents to turn Minneapolis into a police state.

Legal Flashpoints

Attorneys with the ACLU of Minnesota filed an emergency motion late Wednesday, arguing that roadside citizenship checks violate the state’s 2023 Driver’s License for All law, which prohibits local police from cooperating with federal immigration status inquiries absent a judicial warrant.

‘A political stunt’

State Attorney General Leela Singh, speaking outside the federal courthouse, called the operation a taxpayer-funded campaign ad timed to coincide with the first presidential primary ballots. The White House counters that the city has become a magnet for counterfeit-document syndicates tied to transnational gangs.

Street-Level Tension

Back on Lowry Avenue, dusk brings another convoy. Agents stride past murals of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, knocking on doors beneath icicle-laden gutters. Resident Marcus Hill, 42, watches from his porch.

We’ve seen this movie before—fear, helicopters, sirens. Last time it ended in ashes. Let’s pray it doesn’t again.

What Happens Next

Authorities pledge daily updates; local churches are preparing basement shelters. Meanwhile, school districts sent robo-calls advising undocumented parents to keep children home if they fear separation. As night temperatures dip below zero, the city braces for a second wave of raids expected before the weekend.