Officials: ICE targeting Somalis in Twin Cities; MPD won’t assist

📌 Key Facts

• Federal immigration authorities launched "Operation Metro Surge" in early December, deploying roughly 100 federal agents to the Twin Cities and conducting enforcement actions that began Dec. 1–3.
• ICE said the operation arrested 12 noncitizens from Somalia, Mexico and El Salvador, including one individual ICE identified as a Somali gang member; prosecutors or officials cited convictions among some arrestees (child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault, DUI).
• Minneapolis leaders released video and witnesses reported that agents used pepper spray to disperse crowds in Cedar‑Riverside, and that at least one U.S. citizen (identified as a 20‑year‑old named Mobashir) was detained, transported to a Bloomington federal facility and later released — prompting state concern and calls for review.
• Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and multiple suburban cities said their departments do not collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement, do not share information for that purpose and do not ask about immigration status; Minneapolis officials held a news conference reiterating that position.
• Gov. Tim Walz sent formal requests to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to review Minnesota ICE arrests after reports that U.S. citizens were detained, urging federal scrutiny and respect for constitutional rights; Mayor Jacob Frey and faith leaders also publicly condemned the targeting of Somalis.
• Community response included planned rallies (a deportation‑flight protest at MSP Airport and an afternoon press event), hundreds of volunteer observers/escorts (e.g., more than 250 in Shakopee), and reports of local business disruption as customers stayed away for fear of ICE activity.
• Several people arrested in the roundup have filed federal lawsuits challenging detention — four initially, with at least 11 lawsuits reported in December — citing asylum claims, pending visa applications or naturalization eligibility; plaintiffs come from Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Honduras, Egypt and Mexico.
• DHS officials publicly claimed roughly half of the visa or immigration cases they reviewed in Minnesota involved fraud and cited more than 95,000 pending immigration applications in the state (about 6,500 listing Somalia), but they did not provide the underlying totals or details; independent context (Cato Institute analysis) notes that over 70% of ICE arrests nationally involve people without criminal records, fueling community concern.
• Background: estimates of the Somali population vary — about 33,500 in Minneapolis, more than 83,000 across the Twin Cities metro and roughly 76,000–107,000 statewide in differing counts; about 41,000 Somali Minnesotans are foreign‑born and roughly 87% of those are naturalized U.S. citizens.

📰 Sources (15)