A protester sits on the street with his arms up in front of federal agents and Minneapolis Police on W. 27th St and Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis after Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal agents in the area early Saturday morning, January 24, 2026.
The Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota led to widespread human rights violations, terrorized residents, and spotlighted the deeply abusive patterns in US immigration enforcement.In addition to unlawful killings, excessive force, racial profiling, and unlawful detentions, the abuses and resulting terror forced many people to stay at home, causing them to miss work, school, and even essential health care.National-level action is needed to ensure accountability, end ongoing abuses, remedy the harm, and prevent another crisis of this scale.
(Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 18, 2026) – The Trump administration’s deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota between December 2025 and March 2026 led to widespread human rights violations, terrorized residents with long-lasting effects, and spotlighted the deeply abusive patterns in US immigration enforcement, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 180-page report, “‘A Manufactured Crisis’: Minnesota Communities Terrorized by the Federal Government,” comprehensively documents how the US government’s “Operation Metro Surge” caused a human rights crisis in Minnesota, particularly in and around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The campaign included two unlawful killings, repeated instances of excessive force, racial profiling, unlawful detentions, and abusive detention conditions. These abuses and the terror they spread also led to less visible harm, forcing many people to stay at home out of fear, causing them to miss work, school, and even essential health c
