Minnesota police chiefs say ICE stopped off‑duty officers, sometimes drew guns during Metro Surge
Local Minnesota police chiefs say ICE agents have stopped off‑duty officers and residents, sometimes drawing guns and demanding citizenship documents during recent Operation Metro Surge.
Overview
Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley and other Minnesota chiefs say ICE agents stopped off‑duty, nonwhite officers, boxed a cop in, drew guns, and demanded proof of citizenship.
The incidents occurred across the Twin Cities area, including Brooklyn Park, as roughly 3,000 federal agents deployed since December under 'Operation Metro Surge' following a Jan. 7 fatal shooting.
Local leaders said agents sometimes prevented recording, knocked phones from hands, and used tactics chiefs call intimidating and potentially unlawful, eroding fragile trust with communities of color.
Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Kristi Noem, defended targeted enforcement, saying agents may question people near suspects; DHS did not immediately comment on specific Brooklyn Park allegations.
Minnesota and Twin Cities sued to halt the operations; a judge denied an emergency injunction, though another order barred certain crowd-control tactics against peaceful protesters.
Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame the story as a civil-rights and public-safety concern by foregrounding law-enforcement leaders' emotive accounts (e.g., "targeted," "boxed her in," "knocked out of her hands"), prioritizing calls for oversight and trust repair while giving only brief, non-responsive federal comment—shaping a critical narrative toward federal tactics.
Sources (3)
FAQ
Operation Metro Surge is a large-scale U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation that began in December 2025, initially targeting the Twin Cities area in Minnesota before expanding statewide, involving 2,000-3,000 federal agents to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants.
Minnesota police chiefs, including Brooklyn Park's Mark Bruley, reported that ICE agents stopped off-duty nonwhite officers, boxed one in with vehicles, drew guns, and demanded proof of citizenship during Operation Metro Surge.
The operation escalated following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent on January 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, amid broader enforcement that led to over 2,500 arrests.
Local police chiefs criticized ICE tactics as intimidating; thousands protested; schools shifted to remote learning; Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul sued to halt the operation, alleging constitutional violations, though an injunction was denied.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the targeted enforcement, stating there are no plans to end it, and agents may question individuals near suspects; DHS has not commented on specific allegations like those in Brooklyn Park.
History
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