Operation Metro Surge Echoes Sanctuary Movement Resistance of the 1980s

Research Report

63 sources reviewed
Verified: Feb 17, 2026

Federal immigration agents began withdrawing from Minnesota in mid-February 2026. The Department of Homeland Security had called it the “largest immigration enforcement operation ever.” Over 1,000 agents departed after Operation Metro Surge faced two months of sustained resistance. A coalition of over 300 organizations mobilized tens of thousands of residents through nightly hotel demonstrations, community warning networks, and a general strike that shut down Minneapolis in subzero temperatures.

The withdrawal came after two fatal shootings by federal officers sparked mass protests and legal challenges. Tom Homan, the official in charge of border enforcement, announced the operation had achieved its objectives with over 4,000 arrests. But the timing—following weeks of escalating community pressure—suggested a different story about what forced the federal retreat.

What happened in Minneapolis echoes the 1980s Sanctuary Movement’s resistance to Reagan-era immigration enforcement. The campaign combined historical sanctuary tactics with contemporary organizing strategies—targeting hotels housing ICE agents, deploying 30,000 volunteers who watched and documented ICE activity using secure messaging apps, and coordinating labor strikes that demonstrated economic power federal authorities couldn’t ignore.

How Federal Enforcement Collapsed Under Community Pressure

The Trump administration deployed approximately 3,000 federal immigration officers to Minneapolis on December 1, 2025. The surge included over 2,000 ICE agents and 1,000 Customs and Border Protection officers. This was a twenty-fold increase from the roughly 150 officers typically assigned to Minnesota immigration operations.

Community response began immediately. ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renée Nicole Good on January 7, 2026. Good was a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and mother of three. Video analysis by major news outlets showed her vehicle moving away from the officer when he fired three shots. This contradicted federal claims that she’d attempted to run over agents.

The shooting sparked protests that drew thousands to Minneapolis streets despite temperatures dropping below zero. Less than three weeks later, Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse at the Veterans Administration. Bystander video showed Pretti filming federal agents and attempting to help a woman pushed to the ground by officers when the shooting occurred.

These deaths transformed occasional protests into an ongoing organized effort. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described Operation Metro Surge as “not normal immigration enforcement” but “unconstitutional conduct that is invading our streets each and every day.” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a federal lawsuit on January 12 challenging the operation’s constitutionality. He alleged punishment for how Minnesota voted rather than law enforcement reasons.

The General Strike That Shut Down Minneapolis

On January 23, 2026, a coalition of over 90 organizations mobilized what organizers estimated as 50,000 participants for what they called the “Day of Truth and Freedom.” Temperatures hit negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. More than 700 small businesses and cultural institutions closed in solidarity. This was the first large-scale general strike in the United States in nearly eighty years.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Guthrie Theater, and multiple music venues stayed open with minimal staff or remained closed. The same morning, approximately 100 clergy members were arrested while protesting at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport. They conducted prayer and protest actions to draw attention to deportation flights.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO officially endorsed the action, with labor leaders framing the strike as defense of fundamental rights. Service Employees International Union Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, Communications Workers Local 7250, both Minneapolis and St. Paul teacher federations, and multiple other unions mobilized members. The Starbucks Workers Union took direct strike action, calling for ICE to leave while advancing labor disputes with the corporation.

Targeting Hotels: The Strategy That Worked

Rather than confronting federal operations directly, organizers from Sunrise Movement Twin Cities and allied groups conducted sustained nightly demonstrations outside hotels housing ICE agents. The Hampton Inn Lakeville, multiple Hilton properties, and other hospitality facilities became focal points for what organizers called “noise demonstrations.” They gathered late at night to create disruption and make occupation uncomfortable for federal forces.

Some organizers reported booking and canceling hotel reservations through digital platforms to disrupt ICE logistics. The Hampton Inn Lakeville’s public refusal to accommodate ICE agents generated national controversy. The General Services Administration, the federal agency that manages government contracts, removed the property from federal lodging lists. Hilton Hotels corporate took away the hotel owner’s right to use the Hilton name.

Rather than persuading federal officials to change how they enforced immigration law, the movement pressured private corporations to stop cooperating with federal enforcement. The strategy proved difficult for federal authorities to address without appearing to punish private businesses for declining federal contracts.

Constitutional Observers and Community Warning Networks

Approximately 30,000 constitutional observers were organized into community networks by late January. They tracked federal enforcement activity, warned residents, and documented potential violations. These observers used encrypted messaging applications, developed databases of vehicles used by federal agents, and coordinated quickly going to neighborhoods when ICE agents appeared.

The community warning networks combined technological coordination with historical precedent. Observers traced their tactics back to the 1980s Sanctuary Movement’s use of phone tree networks to alert communities about immigration enforcement. Some schools organized what parents and educators termed “safe passages.” Volunteers walked or drove students to school and back home, creating safe routes to school.

Federal judge Patrick Schiltz documented that ICE had violated at least 96 court orders issued by Minnesota judges in January 2026 alone. He noted that ICE “has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”

The Coalition That Sustained Two Months of Resistance

The resistance involved labor unions, faith organizations, immigrant rights groups, community organizers, political leaders, and grassroots activists. The 50501 movement emerged as central coordinating force, describing ICE’s purpose as fundamentally destructive—”to kidnap children, throw our neighbors into concentration camps, and execute Americans in the street.”

The 50501 movement coordinated national organizing campaigns including the January 31 “ICE Out of Everywhere” national day of action. This brought coordinated demonstrations to 300 locations across the country. The movement partnered with the Somali Student Association, Ethiopian Student Association, Black Student Union at the University of Minnesota, Council on American–Islamic Relations, LA Tenants Union, and Palestinian Youth Movement.

Labor unions provided the structure and ability to get members involved that kept the protests going. Union peacekeepers were deployed during demonstrations to protect participants exercising First Amendment rights.

Faith Communities Provide Moral Authority

Faith in Minnesota, comprising numerous congregations and leaders from different religious groups, formally endorsed the January 23 action. The January 30 airport demonstration brought 100 clergy members into deliberately breaking the law as protest. Participants included United Methodist Rev. Mariah Tollgaard and Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman.

Church communities offered sanctuary, provided shelter and resources to threatened families, and conducted prayer vigils outside federal detention facilities and hotels housing ICE agents. Clergy represented a large percentage of those arrested at the airport.

Immigrant-led organizations like Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action Minnesota (COLPA Minnesota) mobilized members and community networks for direct action and protecting each other.

Echoes of the 1980s Sanctuary Movement

The Minneapolis resistance deliberately drew on tactics, rhetoric, and organizational models from the 1980s Sanctuary Movement. That earlier movement emerged in response to Central American civil wars that sent hundreds of thousands of refugees to the U.S.-Mexico border beginning in the late 1970s.

The Reagan Administration refused to grant asylum to most Central Americans, calling them economic migrants despite political persecution and violence in their home countries. The response from American religious organizations was to establish networks of congregations that would publicly declare sanctuary status for undocumented Central American refugees.

The historical Sanctuary Movement combined secret methods—helping refugees cross borders illegally—with public methods that announced they were providing sanctuary openly, accepting the legal risks. By 1985, over 500 churches and synagogues were part of the Sanctuary network. Coordinated networks stretched from the Southwest to major urban centers.

What Changed: New Strategies for 2026

The innovations that distinguished 2026 from the 1980s included the scale of labor union involvement, using technology to watch and track federal agents and coordinate rapid response, and targeting hotels rather than direct confrontation with federal facilities.

The 1980s Sanctuary Movement focused on protecting individuals in religious spaces from deportation and helping people travel north secretly. The 2026 movement sought to make it impossible for federal agents to operate through sustained, visible resistance.

Erica Chenoweth’s research documented that nonviolent campaigns succeed about half the time compared to only 26 percent success rate for violent insurrections.

The historical legacy of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which kept up economic pressure for 382 days until segregation was formally declared unconstitutional, appeared to influence strategic thinking about sustained pressure and coalition building. The 2026 movement’s use of economic disruption through hotel targeting and general strike reflected this historical lesson about the power of refusing to do business.

Federal Retreat

Tom Homan announced on February 12, 2026, that Operation Metro Surge would end. He stated the surge had achieved its objectives with over 4,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants. Fourteen had homicide convictions and 139 had assault convictions. Homan framed the withdrawal as resulting from what he called “unprecedented cooperation” with state and local authorities rather than community pressure.

Homan’s announcement also indicated that a “small security force” would remain in Minnesota “for a short period of time.” It would respond to situations where federal personnel were “surrounded by agitators and things get out of control.”

By February 16, more than 1,000 federal agents had departed Minnesota with hundreds more expected to leave in subsequent days. However, the Trump administration’s continued refusal to share evidence from the killings of Good and Pretti with state investigators remained concerning. Federal threats to cut off funding for Minnesota social services and continued investigation of state officials suggested that the fight between federal and state remained serious despite the announced withdrawal.

Public Opinion Shifted Against Federal Operations

An AP-NORC poll released after the killings found that 53 percent of Americans believed Good’s shooting wasn’t justified. Only 35 percent believed the shooting was justified.

Video evidence proved key in shaping public perception. Bystander video of both incidents challenged federal government narratives about the shootings. Video showed Good’s vehicle moving away from the officer at the moment of shooting. This contradicted claims that she’d attempted to run over agents. Similar video evidence appeared to show Pretti holding a cellphone rather than brandishing a weapon.

Movement participants expressed skepticism about the permanence of federal retreat. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty stated she “received the news of the alleged end” of Operation Metro Surge “with some skepticism.” She noted the need for verification that federal agents were departing rather than relocating to less organized cities.

Strategic Lessons for Immigration Resistance

The withdrawal of over 1,000 federal agents from Minnesota represented unusual federal retreat from immigration operations. The withdrawal was more substantial than reductions in other comparable federal operations.

Pressure from Multiple Directions Created Problems

The movement’s capacity to mobilize multiple institutional sectors simultaneously created coordination problems for federal authorities. Schools implementing ICE protection protocols, churches offering sanctuary, labor unions coordinating strike action, and community networks conducting surveillance created resistance from so many directions that federal officials couldn’t address through any single policy response.

When Homan arrived in Minnesota to assume leadership of the operation on January 26, his public acknowledgment that “massive changes” were needed was telling. He said federal forces required “cooperation” from state and local authorities.

The movement’s organizational effectiveness in sustaining mobilization across weeks rather than days represented significant achievement compared to many protest movements. The combination of nightly demonstrations, community warning networks, institutions refusing to help, and legal challenges created pressure from multiple sides.

Economic Disruption Proves Effective

The strategy of targeting hotel accommodations for federal agents proved innovative. Rather than attempting to directly confront federal operations, targeting hotels created economic pressure on private sector institutions to distance themselves from immigration enforcement. The negative publicity prompted Hilton Hotels corporate to take away the hotel owner’s right to use the Hilton name.

The January 23 general strike generated political pressure that contributed to Congressional attention to enforcement violations. The maintenance of coalition unity despite disagreements about strategy, the commitment to nonviolence despite federal violence, and the strategic innovation of targeting private sector accommodations all contributed to movement effectiveness.

What Comes Next for Immigration Enforcement

The Trump administration’s insistence that Operation Metro Surge represented planned success rather than federal retreat due to community pressure suggests that federal officials may attempt to replicate the enforcement operation model in other cities. Homan indicated that future enforcement surges would depend on assessment of city cooperation with federal operations.

The Trump administration’s broader strategy of threatening to cut federal funding for cities and states offering sanctuary policies indicated that federal enforcement might try different approaches. The maintenance of a “small security force” of unspecified size within Minnesota left open possibility of quickly bringing agents back.

Whether the resistance could keep going remained uncertain in the months following federal retreat. While the January 23 general strike and January 31 nationwide mobilizations demonstrated impressive coordination, sustaining nightly demonstrations and community surveillance networks in the absence of immediate federal operation represented significant organizational challenge. Many social movements experience dramatic participation decline once immediate threats recede.

Prosecution Decisions Will Shape Movement Credibility

Prosecution or non-prosecution of federal officers for the killings of Good and Pretti will represent an important symbolic moment for the movement’s credibility. The Trump administration formally denied Minnesota investigators access to evidence from federal investigations.

The outcome will likely determine movement participants’ assessment of whether justice system institutions can be held accountable. Federal refusal to cooperate with state prosecutors investigating the killings showed contempt for accountability.

Likely scenarios for the coming months include federal re-escalation in Minnesota or initiation of similar enforcement surges in other cities. New York City is at risk, as Homan had announced it would be target of intensified enforcement. Legislative battles over federal funding for “sanctuary” cities and congressional action on immigration enforcement restrictions represented areas where the movement could change policy.

Can Winning This Battle Lead to Change?

Federal retreat from Minnesota shouldn’t be confused with achievement of the movement’s stated objective of “ICE abolition.” The withdrawal didn’t guarantee permanent cessation of immigration operations.

The movement achieved significant short-term win in compelling federal authorities to withdraw agents and modify how they operate in response to community pressure. Whether that success could be converted into lasting policy change, legislative reforms, or changes in how institutions treat immigrants remained uncertain. This depended on movement strategic choices and political developments beyond the movement’s direct control.

The months and years following February 2026 would determine whether the short-term win could be turned into lasting changes in how institutions protect immigrants. Or whether federal authorities would successfully circumvent community resistance through moving operations elsewhere and changing their approach. The sustainability of movement organizations and networks developed during the January-February campaign remained an open question. So did the capacity to expand successful tactics to other cities and the political will to continue organizing against federal enforcement in periods when immediate threats seemed to recede.

The resistance to Operation Metro Surge demonstrated that federal power over immigration enforcement could be challenged. Organized communities could compel federal retreat. Whether that demonstration of power would translate into lasting changes in how the federal government enforces immigration law and how institutions protect immigrants remained to be determined through continued struggle and strategic organizing.

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