Minnesota judges inundated with ICE habeas cases; battering‑ram raid and other Metro Surge detentions deemed unconstitutional
Minnesota judges are being inundated with federal habeas petitions — 312 filed by Jan. 21, surpassing all of 2025 — as immigration lawyers report more than 90% of recent filings win releases or bond hearings after rapid street arrests and overnight flights out of state. Courts have already found Metro Surge tactics unconstitutional in high‑profile cases like Liberian Garrison Gibson, whose north Minneapolis home was breached with a battering ram by agents with only administrative paperwork; a judge ordered his release, ICE re‑arrested him hours later and says it will seek to resume removal, prompting fresh habeas and immigration challenges.
📌 Key Facts
- Judge Jeffrey Bryan found ICE’s battering‑ram, warrantless entry into a north Minneapolis home violated the Fourth Amendment and ordered the immediate release of Liberian man Garrison Gibson.
- Reporting states ICE agents used a battering ram on the home’s front door while possessing only administrative immigration paperwork and no judge‑signed warrant.
- Garrison Gibson had checked in regularly with ICE for roughly 15 years, wore an ankle monitor, and has no criminal record, a contrast with DHS rhetoric about “criminal aliens.”
- After the judge ordered his release, ICE freed Gibson overnight, told him to report to the Whipple Federal Building the next morning where agents re‑arrested him, and DHS has informed his attorney it intends to restart deportation proceedings.
- Attorney Marc Prokosch said he will pursue two tracks: a new federal habeas petition and a renewed fight in immigration court against removal.
- Federal habeas corpus petitions by ICE detainees in Minnesota reached 312 as of Jan. 21, surpassing the 260 filed in all of 2025; immigration attorneys report more than 90% of recent habeas petitions win either outright release or a bond hearing.
- Lawyers describe detainees being grabbed off Twin Cities streets and flown out of state—often to El Paso—within hours, sometimes spending only an hour at the Whipple Federal Building, forcing emergency habeas filings.
- TwinCities’ coverage offers a fuller narrative of the case, including details of the raid, the family’s livestream of the incident, and the specific terms of Gibson’s release order.
📊 Relevant Data
Venezuelan immigrants in the US had an incarceration rate of 241 per 100,000 in 2023, compared to higher rates for US-born citizens.
Illegal Immigrant Incarceration Rates, 2010–2023 — Cato Institute
Immigrants in the United States commit crimes at lower rates than the US-born population.
Explainer: Immigrants and Crime in the United States — Migration Policy Institute
Somali Minnesotans generate at least $500 million in income annually and pay about $67 million in state and local taxes.
Somali Minnesotans drive economic growth, pay $67M taxes annually — KSTP
Somali refugees began arriving in Minnesota in 1992 due to the collapse of the Somali government and resulting civil war, facilitated by US refugee resettlement programs.
Somali and Somali American Experiences in Minnesota — MNopedia
More than 800 Liberian refugees were resettled in Minnesota during the 1990s due to civil wars in Liberia from 1989 to 2003.
Finding Common Ground — International Institute of Minnesota
Operation Metro Surge targets criminal illegal aliens, including gang members such as those from Tren de Aragua, in sanctuary jurisdictions like Minneapolis.
The Refugee Act of 1980 established the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, which facilitated the resettlement of Somali and Liberian refugees in Minnesota.
A history of immigrants and refugees in Minnesota — MinnPost
📰 Source Timeline (4)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- Federal habeas corpus petitions by ICE detainees in Minnesota have already hit 312 as of Jan. 21, surpassing the 260 filed in all of 2025.
- Immigration attorneys report more than 90% of their recent habeas petitions are winning either outright release or a bond hearing for detainees.
- Lawyers describe detainees being grabbed off Twin Cities streets and flown out of state—often to El Paso—within hours, sometimes spending only an hour at the Whipple Federal Building, forcing emergency filings.
- The piece reiterates that in Gibson’s case a judge explicitly found ICE’s battering‑ram entry and warrantless home raid in north Minneapolis violated the Fourth Amendment and ordered his release.
- After the judge ordered his immediate release, ICE freed Garrison Gibson overnight and told him to report back to the Whipple Federal Building Friday morning, where agents re‑arrested him.
- DHS has informed his attorney they intend to restart deportation proceedings to send him back to Liberia, despite the court’s finding that the battering‑ram home entry violated the Fourth Amendment.
- Attorney Marc Prokosch says he is going straight back into court on two tracks: a new federal habeas petition and a renewed fight in immigration court against removal.
- This piece is a fuller write‑up of the same case Judge Jeffrey Bryan decided, supplying narrative detail on the raid, the family’s livestream, and the terms of his release order.
- It reiterates that agents had only administrative immigration paperwork, no judge‑signed warrant, when they used a battering ram on the north Minneapolis home’s front door.
- It underscores that Gibson had checked in regularly with ICE for roughly 15 years, wore an ankle monitor, and has no criminal record, sharpening the contrast with DHS rhetoric about "criminal aliens."