The Trump administration deployed thousands of ICE agents to Minnesota on Jan. 6, 2026 to target Somali immigrants in the “largest immigration operation ever”.
Operation Metro Surge began in December in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul then expanded statewide, costing Minnesota at least $203.1 million in losses, officials estimate.
Following weeks of massive protests, and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by ICE agents, White House officials announced on Feb. 12 that they will draw back officers from Minnesota. Organizers say ICE is still active in the state, despite the White House’s claim.
Several false or misleading claims have circulated about ICE, anti-ICE protesters, and Somalis in Minnesota.
Here are the facts.
Claim #1 – Somali immigrants are running fraudulent daycare centers, “terrorizing” people, and “completely taking over” Minnesota.
This claim is FALSE.
President Trump has repeatedly disparaged Somalis on social media, claiming without evidence that Somali gangs are “terrorizing” people in Minnesota and that the state has become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity”. White House officials amplified a YouTube video in December 2025 accusing Somalis of running fake childcare centers to receive federal funds.
This video’s claim has been disproved by inspectors, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office released a statement that there are no “roving Somali gangs terrorizing people”.
Trump began to focus on Somalis in Minnesota in November 2025, when a conservative news outlet alleged that defrauded taxpayer dollars from a 2022 fraud case were sent to Al-Shabaab, an Islamic terrorist group involved in the Somali Civil War.
Known as the Feeding Our Future scandal, dozens of people were charged with stealing $250 million from a federal program to feed low-income children. The alleged ringleader was white, but many of the defendants were Somalis, most of them U.S. citizens.
While some of the defrauded funds were sent to overseas banks and companies, federal prosecutors have not found evidence linking the case to Al-Shabaab. Minnesota leaders have spoken out against blaming the case on the larger Somali community, the majority of whom are law-abiding.
Minnesota is home to the country’s largest Somali population, half of whom are American citizens by birth. 87% of those born outside the U.S. are naturalized citizens, many of them refugees who fled Somalia’s ongoing civil war.
Following the fraud allegations, Trump announced in December 2025 that he is terminating Temporary Protected Status for Somalis, a federal program that allows migrants from unstable countries to live and work in the states.
Claim #2 – ICE goes after immigrants with “the worst of the worst” criminal records.
This claim is FALSE.
ICE has claimed to target “the worst of the worst” immigrants in Minnesota, releasing a list of “dangerous criminal illegal aliens” arrested as part of Operation Metro Surge.
But the Minnesota Department of Corrections has had difficulty verifying the listed crimes, some of which did not take place during Operation Metro Surge, officials say. And the 486 listings represent only a small percentage of the 3,000 total arrests claimed on the website.
Advocates in Minnesota say that ICE has arrested innocent people who are trying to follow the legal process to become a citizen. Department of Homeland Security documents support this claim. Since the start of Trump’s second term, only 14% of those arrested by ICE have been convicted of violent crimes. 40% of arrestees had no criminal record at all.
Claim #3 – The two people shot and killed in January were “domestic terrorists”, and the ICE agents responsible for the shootings acted in self-defense.
This claim is FALSE.
ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis on two separate occasions in January: Renee Good, a mother of three accused of blocking the street and “weaponizing” her car, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse accused of being an “assassin” for filming ICE agents with his phone.
White House officials have defended the officers in both incidents, saying they acted in self-defense against “domestic terrorism”. Video evidence contradicts these claims.
A cellphone video filmed by the ICE agent who shot Good shows the officer walking up to her car, talking to her as she sits behind the wheel, then ordering her to get out as two other agents approach. Good turns her steering wheel away from the agent, begins to move the car forward, and three gunshots are fired.
Though it is unclear if the vehicle struck the officer at the end of the video, analysts say the video does not support the claim that Good used her car as a weapon, that there was no “hostile intent”, and that deadly force was unnecessary.
In the Pretti incident, multiple bystander videos show him using his phone to film ICE officers while they arrest someone off the street. He gets pepper-sprayed and tackled to the ground by a group of seven agents. While he is being restrained, one of the agents pulls a gun from his pocket, and officers shoot him 10 times.
Officials say Pretti posed no threat and was “retreating at every moment” while being attacked by the officers. The Minneapolis Police Chief confirmed that Pretti had a valid firearms permit and was allowed to carry his gun under Minnesota law.