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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Updated Federal Data Show More Than 2,300 People Arrested During Operation Metro Surge Were Deported or Left the Country
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 16, 2026). More than 2,300 noncitizens arrested in Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge were eventually deported or otherwise left the United States, according to newly updated federal immigration data that provide one of the clearest accounts yet of the enforcement operation’s long-term consequences.
The figures, obtained from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by MPR News and APM Reports, document more than 3,700 arrests in Minnesota during the federal operation.
Of those arrested, 2,102 people were subsequently deported. Another 282 left the country, although the federal records reviewed by the news organizations did not contain corresponding detention information for that group.
The combined number means at least 2,384 people arrested in Minnesota were removed from or departed the United States following the operation.
The updated information significantly expands the public understanding of Operation Metro Surge. An earlier review conducted in April found that approximately 1,700 people detained during the operation had been deported, but hundreds of other cases remained active in immigration court at that time.
The newer data capture additional case outcomes that occurred as those proceedings moved forward.
The records also show that a majority of the more than 3,700 people arrested during the operation had no criminal record. That finding is significant because federal officials repeatedly promoted the enforcement campaign as a public-safety operation targeting people who posed criminal threats.
An absence of a criminal record does not necessarily establish a person’s immigration status or the legal circumstances behind an arrest. It does, however, complicate assertions that the operation was primarily focused on people with established criminal histories.
Operation Metro Surge brought thousands of federal immigration personnel into Minnesota and generated widespread fear in immigrant communities. Families altered work and school routines, businesses reported severe losses, and community organizations mobilized food, legal and emergency assistance.
The operation also produced continuing disputes over surveillance, detention conditions, access to legal counsel, religious freedom and the authority of federal agents operating in Minnesota communities.
State and local officials have estimated that the operation caused hundreds of millions of dollars in economic damage. Minneapolis, Saint Paul and the State of Minnesota are also continuing a federal lawsuit challenging the legality and implementation of the operation.
The updated deportation numbers do not settle those legal disputes. They establish more clearly, however, that Operation Metro Surge resulted in the removal or departure of nearly two-thirds of the people documented as having been arrested in Minnesota.
They also give Minnesota families, policymakers and courts a more complete basis for evaluating the operation’s human and institutional consequences.
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