A timeline of Trump’s anti-immigration campaign in Minnesota

The Trump administration has announced the end of a massive anti-immigration crackdown in Minnesota after two and a half months of protests, 4,000 arrests and fatal shootings by immigration officers.

Two American citizens, Rene Judd and Alex Peretti, were killed by federal officers in Minneapolis.

Here’s a look at some of the key moments during Operation Metro Surge, which the Department of Homeland Security described as “the largest immigration enforcement operation ever.”

December 1:

The immigration crackdown began weeks after President Donald Trump escalated rhetoric criticizing Minnesota’s Somali community.

Operation Metro Surge focuses on Minneapolis-St. Poole District, home to the largest Somali community in the country. Trump claimed that immigrants from Somalia “have taken complete control of the once-great state of Minnesota.” He later referred to the Somali population as “trash” during a cabinet meeting.

He watches: Trump says he doesn’t want Somali immigrants in the United States and calls people “trash”

State and local leaders pushed back. Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said Trump slandered all Minnesotans and that his expressions of disdain for the Somali community were “unprecedented for a president of the United States.”

According to US Census Bureau data, an estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent were living in the United States in 2024. This includes about 84,000 residents in the Minneapolis area, most of whom are US citizens.

December 5:

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it arrested 12 people during the crackdown, including six Mexican nationals, five from Somalia and one from El Salvador.

December 9:

Federal agents use pepper spray to penetrate a crowd of protesters who blocked their cars while checking IDs in a majority-Somali neighborhood.

When the agents approached a large city-owned apartment complex, a group of protesters sounded sirens and confronted the agents, who responded with pepper spray.

Similar protests would become common throughout the Twin Cities in the following weeks, with a wide-ranging network of residents working to help migrants, warning people not to approach agents or filming the actions of immigration officers to share with the world.

December 18:

Five new defendants have been charged in connection with an ongoing housing services fraud investigation in Minnesota, with authorities saying they stole money instead of helping Medicaid beneficiaries find stable housing.

Up to $9 billion in federal funds may have been stolen in a multi-layered fraud scheme, leading to charges against at least 92 people, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson says.

Trump has leveraged fraud cases to target the Somali diaspora in Minnesota. Eighty-two of the 92 defendants in the Child Nutrition, Housing and Autism Services programs are Somali-Americans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota.

December 30:

The number of federal immigration agents in Minnesota is increasing after new allegations of fraud at Somali-run daycare centers posted online by a right-wing influencer.

He watches: Federal agents are investigating fraud allegations targeting Somali child care providers in Minnesota

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel both announced an increase in the immigration process in Minnesota.

The Trump administration also announced it would freeze child care funds in the state.

January 7:

People embrace in front of the site of a memorial for Alex Peretti and Renee Nicole Judd in Minneapolis, on February 1, 2026. Photograph by Tim Evans/Reuters

Renee Good, a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Witnesses recorded Judd’s murder on video, sparking outrage across the country.

Noem claims the incident was an “act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers, and Deputy Chief J.D. Vance later claimed the officer fired in self-defense because Judd was trying to hit him with her car. But that interpretation was criticized by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey-Walls and others based on videos of the confrontation.

He watches: Brothers of Renee Judd, the woman fatally shot by ICE, are remembering their sister with lawmakers

Videos filmed by bystanders challenge the administration’s narrative. It is not clear in the videos whether the car hits the officer, who shoots first while standing in front of the car and then twice more while standing next to the car, at arm’s length from the driver’s side window.

January 11:

New video shows the minutes before a federal immigration officer shot and killed Judd.

The 3 1/2-minute video shot by a bystander was released by the Department of Homeland Security to X. It shows two officers walking toward Good’s car as it blocks part of the road.

Read more: We had whistles. “They had guns,” says the wife of a Minnesota woman killed by an ICE agent.

Another video clip, filmed by the officer who shot Jude, shows one of the officers asking Jude to get out of the car while another tries to open its door. The officer filming circles around the front of the car. Jade steps back briefly — positioning the camera officer in front of the driver’s side of the car — and then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger’s side of the car. An officer orders her to get out of the car while his wife, standing outside the car, shouts: “Drive, baby, drive!”

The car moves forward, the video pans up, and gunshots are heard.

January 14:

A 51-year-old Venezuelan man was shot in the leg by ICE agents.

Officials say the non-fatal shooting came after two other people attacked the officer with a shovel and broom handle as he tried to arrest the Venezuelan man.

Read more: Prosecutors drop charges against men accused of assaulting an ICE officer in Minneapolis

Protesters and federal officers continued to picket near the site of the shooting, with officers firing tear gas into the crowd while demonstrators threw snowballs and chanted “Our streets.”

On the same day, a Nicaraguan immigrant who was also arrested in Operation Metro Surge was found dead in an immigration detention facility in Texas.

He watches: Grief, anger and exhaustion grip the Twin Cities after recent killings by federal agents

Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Victor Manuel Diaz appears to have committed suicide, but the death remains under investigation.

Another detainee died in the same detention center earlier in January. ICE said the death occurred when employees tried to prevent him from killing himself, but one detainee said at least five officers were restraining the handcuffed inmate and one of them had his arm around his neck. A preliminary investigation by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Lunas Campos, 55, died of asphyxia due to chest and neck compression, and said the death would likely be classified as a homicide.

January 18:

Federal immigration agents break into the front door of a home in Minnesota and detain a US citizen at gunpoint without a warrant. Then they took him out into the streets in his underwear in extremely cold conditions.

On the same day, the US Department of Justice announced that it was investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local US Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor.

Read more: Don Lemon pleads not guilty to civil rights charges in a Minnesota church anti-ICE protest

Live video of the protest shows a group of people interrupting services chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.”

January 20:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stand next to a boy, identified by a witness as 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who school officials said was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 20, 2026. Photo provided by Rachel James/via Reuters

A 5-year-old boy comes home from preschool and federal agents take him and his father to a Texas detention center.

Federal agents took Liam Conejo-Ramos from a speeding car in the family’s driveway, then told him to knock on his door to see if there were other people inside, “using a 5-year-old as bait,” Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stevenick told reporters.

He watches: ‘They’re surrounding our schools,’ says superintendent after 5-year-old detained by ICE

The family has an ongoing asylum case and has not been asked to leave the country, Stefanik said.

Federal officials deny the school official’s allegations.

January 22:

Trump administration officials announced that a prominent civil rights attorney and at least two others involved in the protest that disrupted a church service have been arrested.

January 24:

Flowers, candles and signs are placed at the site of a memorial for Alex Peretti during a protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after Peretti and Renee Nicole Judd were killed by US federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis on January 31, 2026. Photograph by Seth Herald/Reuters

Alex Pretty, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at a Virginia hospital, was shot and killed by a US Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis.

He watches: Shooting murder rates rise in Trump’s mass deportation effort

Preeti was an American citizen, and did not have a criminal record like Judd. He was a licensed gun owner with a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and was wearing a holstered handgun on the day of his death.

Videos filmed by bystanders show Preeti with nothing but a phone in his hand stepping between an immigration agent and a woman in the street after the agent pushed the woman. The officer pushes Preeti in the chest and pepper-sprays him and the woman.

At least seven officers began forcing Pretty to the ground, placing his arms behind his back as he appeared to resist. An officer carrying a grenade hit him near the head several times. The agents appear to disarm him.

He watches: You can’t get weapons. ‘You can’t go in with guns,’ Trump says of Alex Peretti’s killing.

The Border Patrol officer fired the first shot, and after a pause the same officer shot Preeti several times in the back.

Use-of-force experts say the bystander video undermines federal authorities’ claim that the Border Patrol officer opened fire defensively.

January 26:

Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino stands next to members of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a motorist was shot in Minneapolis on January 7, 2026. Photo by Tim Evans/Reuters

The Trump administration is reshuffling the leadership of Operation Metro Surge, with Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino and some agents leaving Minneapolis.

He watches: Minneapolis residents remain skeptical after immigration enforcement leadership change

Trump announced that Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, would be in charge of the crackdown.

February 1:

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were returned to Minnesota by order of a judge.

February 2:

U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi announced more arrests in connection with the January 18 protest at Cities Church in St. Paul. Those detained include freelance journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Forte.

February 12:

Border Czar Tom Homan announces the end of Operation Metro Surge.

The announcement is unusual, as immigration officials have not announced a formal end to similar operations in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Several Associated Press reporters contributed to this story.