A well-respected human rights watchdog group released a comprehensive report on Operation Metro Surge, calling it a "manufactured crisis."
Human Rights Watch interviewed hundreds of people and analyzed data, photos, and evidence relating to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, that they claimed was designed to keep Americans safe.
Instead, according to the report, it caused significant harm and the majority of arrests were Black or brown people with no prior criminal history.
"But the operation itself caused significant harm, and nearly two out of three immigrants arrested by ICE during Operation Metro Surge had no prior US criminal history whatsoever," the group said in the report.
Jonah Giese with the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild says they were inundated with calls about conditions at the Whipple Federal Building, where detainees were held.
"Our lawyers described the Whipple building as a war zone where ICE agents mounted up before launching incursions into our community," says Giese. "Amidst this chaos, untrained ICE officers used sticky notes to designate which cells held U.S. citizens and which cells held immigrant detainees."
Among dozens of recommendations, the group is calling on Congress to hold hearings on the conduct of ICE agents, and for a complete overhaul of the Department of Homeland Security.
The 180-page report outlines the harm caused by the months-long immigration crackdown, explains Michelle Garnett McKenzie, the Executive Director of The Advocates for Human Rights.
"Operation Metro Surge was an attack on Minnesota's immigrants and refugees, but it was also a warm-up for a broader attack on civil society," says McKenzie. "That is what it's meant to do."
Among other recommendations, the group urges lawmakers to pass legislation barring federal agents from schools, places of worship, courthouses and hospitals. They also want them to explicitly outlaw racial profiling, and prohibit agents from wearing face coverings to conceal their identities.
In a statement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security defended the surge, alleged "the media manipulates data to peddle a false narrative that DHS is not targeting public safety threats" and called accusations of racial profiling "disgusting, reckless, and categorically FALSE."
The group also says while "abusive practices have long been a feature of US immigration policy," they say it has become worse under the second Trump administration.
"But since taking office in January 2025, the second Trump administration has violated rights on an entirely new scale," the report claims. "As part of its immigration enforcement campaign, it has deployed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to US cities and towns. Operation Metro Surge was the largest such deployment of immigration agents since Trump took office, but the federal government has deployed agents to streets across the United States to rapidly expand detention and deportation while flagrantly disregarding human rights and the rule of law."
"The operation caused significant harm, and nearly two out of three immigrants arrested had no prior US criminal history," they claim
"The operation caused significant harm, and nearly two out of three immigrants arrested had no prior US criminal history," they claim
