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

‘It Feels Like a Siege’

MINNEAPOLIS—At 3:17 a.m. Wednesday the first convoy rolled past the Walker Art Center, a line of black SUVs and white prisoner-transport vans that stretched eight blocks. By dawn, 2,000 federal agents had fanned out across the city, knocking on doors, sealing off entire apartment complexes, and erecting mobile command units in grocery-store parking lots.

Homeland Security officials say the surge—codenamed Operation Northstar—is the largest single-state immigration enforcement action in modern U.S. history. Agents are hunting roughly 1,400 people suspected of visa fraud, benefit fraud, or re-entry after deportation. But residents here describe something closer to a city-wide lockdown.

“They flashed a badge, asked for my cousin, then searched the living room without a warrant,” said Fadumo Abdi, 26, who lives off Lake Street. “My green card was on the table. They still copied my phone’s IMEI number.”

A Community on Edge

Local shelters reported 40-percent spikes in overnight stays. Somali shopkeepers along the Karmel Mall posted handwritten signs: “We close at 5 p.m.—go home before dark.” Schools sent robocalls advising parents to keep children indoors after dismissal.

Agents hit nearly 60 locations in the first 12 hours: meat-packing plants in South St. Paul, IT staffing firms in Eden Prairie, and a halal grocery whose owner was later released without charge. Federal warrants remain sealed, but two sources familiar with the investigation tell this outlet that prosecutors zeroed in on a Somali-run staffing agency accused of forging H-1B sponsorship letters for $8,000 apiece.

Why Minneapolis?

The Twin Cities host the nation’s largest Somali diaspora—roughly 80,000 people. Immigration lawyers argue the fraud numbers are a sliver of that population, yet the optics feed a wider narrative. “They’re criminalizing an entire ZIP code,” said attorney Nadia Hussein, who has turned her office into a 24-hour hotline.

Data from Syracuse University’s TRAC clearinghouse show Minnesota ranked 19th in immigration prosecutions last year. In the past 48 hours, federal courts here have accepted 312 new cases—triple the weekly average.

Political Fault Lines

Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, called the operation “federal overreach,” while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a legal-defense fund for affected residents. Republicans counter that the city has become a “magnet for document mills.”

• Agents seized 47 passports suspected of being altered.
• Homeland Security flagged $14 million in questionable wire transfers to Dubai and Nairobi since 2021.
• Three federal agents sustained minor injuries during an early-morning raid when a suspect allegedly brandished a pellet gun.

What Happens Next?

Acting ICE Director Thomas Giles told reporters the deployment is “a weeks-long, not months-long, mission.” Still, residents aren’t convinced. At the Seward Community Co-op, manager Luisa Castro taped a poster to the entrance: “Know your rights—legal clinic Friday 6 p.m.” The slots filled in 22 minutes.

Back on Lake Street, Abdi clutches her cousin’s deportation notice dated today. “He’s 19, graduated Roosevelt High, has no criminal record,” she said. “They took him while he was delivering pizza.”

The city that became a global symbol after George Floyd’s murder now braces for another reckoning—this time under the glare of immigration spotlights that show no sign of dimming.