Thousands march along Lake Street to protest DHS ‘Operation Metro Surge’ in Minneapolis

Arrests top 400 as enforcement enters third week; organizers say fear is emptying stores and streets

MINNEAPOLIS — In bitter cold Saturday morning, thousands of people marched more than a mile down the Lake Street corridor to protest stepped-up immigration enforcement by the Department of Homeland Security as its Operation Metro Surge moves into a third week.

The event — organized by COPAL, Unidos and local union groups — drew families, faith leaders and labor organizers who said the coordinated federal operation has sown fear across immigrant neighborhoods and hurt small businesses that anchor the corridor.

DHS says its agents have arrested more than 400 people since the operation began. The agency has also touted more than a dozen arrests of people with criminal convictions. It remains unclear how many of those arrested are still detained or have been transferred elsewhere.

Organizers framed the march as both a show of solidarity and a rebuke to the enforcement surge. “We want to make sure that everybody across the world and across the country knows that the mass deportation agenda is not good for immigrants,” said Emilia González Avalos, executive director of UNIDOS. “It’s not good for communities. It’s not good for local economies.”

González Avalos said the fear generated by the operation has rippled through daily life on Lake Street and beyond. “Businesses are struggling. Nobody wants to go out and shop. People are not buying basic things like toilet paper, eggs, milk, formula because they’re scared,” she said.

Advocates also pushed back on claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is targeting “the worst of the worst,” arguing that enforcement casts a far wider net and destabilizes households that are firmly rooted in the city. “Most of the immigrants here are working very hard,” said Silvia Ibanez of the Immigrant Defense Network. “They are here because they are trying to find a better future for their family, and that’s not a crime.”

The march ended at Karmel Mall, a bustling marketplace known for its Somali-owned shops and eateries. Organizers said the destination was chosen to underscore how both Latino and Somali communities have felt the brunt of immigration enforcement and the economic chill that can follow.

Saturday’s demonstration added Minneapolis to a growing list of cities where residents have mobilized against heightened immigration sweeps. While DHS has emphasized arrests involving criminal convictions, protesters on Lake Street said any surge that drives families indoors, empties storefronts and deters people from basic errands carries a cost the city cannot afford.

As Operation Metro Surge continues, community groups said they plan to ramp up legal clinics, “know your rights” trainings and mutual aid efforts while pressing local and federal officials for greater transparency about arrests and detention. For many who marched, the message on Lake Street was simple: immigrants are neighbors and customers, parents and workers — and their absence is felt block by block.

By Ali Musa

Axadle Times international–Monitoring.