“Operation Metro Surge” Takes Hold of Our Community, Here’s What You Need to Know
Klaus Solko, co-executive editor
In Dec. 2025, “Operation Metro Surge” was announced which had thousands of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents enter Minnesota, specifically Twin Cities. This included both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to the City of Minneapolis. In a press release from the Department of Homeland Security on Jan. 19 they claimed “We have arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis because Tim Walz and Jacob Frey refuse to protect their own people and instead protect criminals.”
On Dec. 6, ICE came to Augsburg University. “Without producing a warrant, an armed, masked group of ICE agents targeted an undergraduate student and confronted members of our community directly outside a residents hall,” says Augsburg in an official statement that went up on Augsburg Now a day later. The following Monday, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that the officers did have a warrant and that the university had “attempted to obstruct the arrest,” according to MPR. The claim of a warrant being present has not been proven. Besides the students who were in the parking lot and interacting with the incident there were also many students in the residents hall who recorded the event. This act allowed students to spread the word about what was happening in the moment and after. Many students were shaken by this incident. One Augsburg student shared, “I was in my room when it happened. I saw someone share that ICE was in parking lot B. My window faces the parking lot and I was able to look out and see the incident still happening. I’ve never seen something like that before.”
This incident brought lots of media attention to Augsburg, including our very own publication being contacted by outside news sources. Augsburg has asked anyone who is contacted by outside news sources to direct them to the Marketing and Communications Office stating in an email to students “Augsburg’s statements about the incident remain unchanged.” There were also rumors circulating that a news source waited outside the entrance to the Urness Mortensen lobby, also where DPS happens to be, and asked students passing by for comments.
Following ICE being on campus and the increase in news attention, on Dec. 10 there was a bomb threat made on Lindell Library. The library was evacuated right away with text messages and emails going out to anyone signed up for emergency Augsburg Emergency Alerts. One student who was in the library at the time recalled the event, saying they were in the library studying when all of a sudden a DPS officer told them they had to leave. They tried to ask why and if something was going on to which the DPS officer reportedly responded that they couldn’t share. The student admitted that they did have the worry that ICE could be in the building or nearby. The building was searched that night and the emergency evacuation was lifted hours later. On Dec. 11, a bomb threat was made on Anderson Music Hall. The building was promptly evacuated and checked. Afterwards the evacuation order was lifted.
These events happening during the last week of classes had many people scrambling to figure out if it was safe or possible for them to keep going to classes. Many teachers switched their classes to virtual or made it an option; some teachers just fully canceled classes. These changes to format also had some professors cancel or change the way finals were handled.
On Jan. 7, member of the Minneapolis community Renee Nicole Good was shot three times in her car. According to CNN, The shooter Jonathan Ross has worked with ICE for 10 years. Good’s last words to him were “I’m not mad at you,” and his words directly after shooting her were “fucking bitch,” according to numerous videos documenting the incident. This incident happening only a seven minute drive away from Augsburg Campus left many students wondering if they would be able to come back for the spring semester; it also left many out of state students wondering if they could return to Minnesota at all. These fears deepened within our community when on Jan. 17 there was an ‘anti-muslim’ rally planned to be in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. The Minnesota National Guard, State Patrol and many other state partners were mobilized to “uphold public safety,” according to The Minnesota Daily. Because of these counter efforts the protest was stopped at City Hall.
This incident happening only a seven minute drive away from Augsburg Campus left many students wondering if they would be able to come back for the spring semester; it also left many out of state students wondering if they could return to Minnesota at all.
klaus solko
Augsburg University has been doing its best to serve all of its student body while also keeping education at the forefront of its mission. More online classes were offered for this semester for undergraduates along with the opportunity for students to try and find accommodations to feel safer continuing.
Jan. 23 saw temperatures getting as low as negative 20 Fahrenheit and also 50,000 people in the streets of Minneapolis. This number is only a rough estimate as Minneapolis police have not given a crowd estimate. “I think it was important that that many people showed up on the coldest day of this winter. I just hope it doesn’t end up meaning absolutely nothing and that most people from the protest don’t go “well I did my part,” attested Aksel Grover, an Augsburg student who was present at the protest. Another student when asked how they felt going to the protest said, “I started feeling emotional. […] Immigration has always been an issue that I cared about and that I’ve been affected by and that I felt just truly strongly felt was wrong. And to see so many people agree with me and want to support their people and people like me I almost started crying at the protest.”
“My family has always been fearful of the ‘scary la migra’. But right now they have never been more afraid. We as a family have talked plans and logistics. […] Now I have seen my family members not go to work because they are fearful of being taken,” reports one Augsburg student when asked how they have been feeling about everything happening. A past student reported how they feel. “To believe that people who had come here for a better life, a mirrored reflection of my own immigrant grandparents, a mirror of the very foundation of how this country came to be can’t be trusted simply for the sake of their existence as a visible brown person. That I possibly cannot be trusted despite not even being a first-generation immigrant. […] It breaks my heart, and stirs rage in my core. ICE has been nothing short of a terror organization to the community, to my community.” There were many more quotes the Echo was able to get that reflect the hardship our student body is feeling right now.
Augsburg has suggested that if students see ICE on campus they should get to an area they feel safe and then call DPS. Even if you think someone else already has, they would rather have too many calls than none. The information they suggest to share follows the SALUTE acronym. Which stands for size, activity, location, uniform, time, and equipment. More information can be found online when looking up “SALUTE acronym”.
It is also important to know that ICE can not enter private spaces without a warrant. Our campus has both public and private spaces. Some of the roads and sidewalks that go through campus are public so if someone was erring on the side of caution they should try to stay in buildings that have fob points that are never unlocked. The school also requests students do their best to not let people walk in behind them without fobbing, especially if you don’t know if they are a student. This advice also goes to trying to leave doors if people are loitering outside of them or trying to get in. Whistles are also being distributed in multiple places around campus such as the Campus Cupboard. The code that has been spread around about their use is multiple short whistle blows meaning ICE is nearby or interacting with someone and one long continuous whistle blow means someone is being detained.
https://www.minneapolismn.gov/news/2026/january/ag-lawsuit
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/10/us/ice-shooting-minneapolis-renee-good
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