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Roaming Charges: Trick or Retreat in the Twin Cities?

Tom Homan announcing the “end” of Operation Metro Surge. (Screengrab from Fox News coverage.)

What are we going to do now? – The Clash, The Clampdown

What are we going to do now?

– The Clash, The Clampdown

ICE is being chased out of Minneapolis. Hurray! Congratulations to the homegrown resistance, which rose up against an armed invasion of their city like the people of Stalingrad against the Wehrmacht, stood their ground in Arctic weather and clouds of tear gas drove the masked intruders away.

But hold on. Is ICE really leaving Minneapolis?

Yes, Gregory Bovino, that scarf-adorned brand ambassador for fascist couture, was abruptly yanked out of town and sent back to Southern California after his Border Patrol shock troops executed Alex Pretti in broad daylight and their feeble justifications for killing him crumbled from 12 different camera angles. Truth at 24-frames a second. Good riddance, Gregory.

But Bovino was swiftly replaced by Trump’s “Border (though he spends most of his time far from any border, including that of sanity) Czar” Tom Homan, the man whose cruel policies propelled Barack Obama to the heavyweight title of “Deporter-in-Chief.” It was Homan who advocated the caging of children as a tactic to deter border crossings. It didn’t work to keep desperate poor people from seeking a better life in the States. But it did serve to titillate the xenophobes of MAGA, where Homan became a minor celebrity on the rightwing creepshow circuit, a status he swiftly exploited to secure lucrative contracts for his expertise at making life even harder on brown-skinned people of any gender or age, from infants to geriatrics, than it already is here “Under the Red-White-and-Blue (Fitzgerald’s ungainly original title for The Great Gatsby). He eventually grew so full of himself that he walked right into an FBI sting operation, allegedly offering two undercover agents his services to secure them DHS contracts in the new Trump administration in exchange for a grocery bag full of cash.

After Trump was elected and took power, the FBI investigation into Homan’s contracts-for-cash influence peddling was quashed and Homan rose to new heights of power and arrogance, even lecturing two popes on matters of morality and the social teachings of the Catholic Church.

So, I ask again, who would believe Tom Homan, who was one of the key architects of what the twisted PR flacks at DHS dubbed Operation Metro Surge (All domestic invasions now have names like wars), which the department claims is “the largest immigration enforcement action ever.” Enforcement is another bit of misdirection. There’s been very little targeting of actual criminals. Instead, the “surge” has been characterized by a wave of unconstitutional searches, arrests and detentions. In the last three months, ICE and Border Patrol have arrested more than 4,000 people, shot at least three people (none of whom posed a threat to the agents who shot them), killed two people, injured and tear-gassed thousands and repeatedly tried to provoke confrontations with peaceful protesters, conflicts which they could use to escalate the violence of the crackdown.

The targeting of the Twin Cities came from the White House, which had habitually smeared the city’s Somali population as human “garbage,” who, according to Trump, Miller, Noem and Homan, were somehow plotting the “takeover” of the entire state of Minnesota. (In fact, the 87,000 Somalis who live in the Twin Cities make up less than 3 percent of the population of the metro area and the vast majority of them are American citizens.)

The resistance to ICE’s paramilitary-style raids in the city began only days after the operation was announced. Locally organized citizen networks began monitoring ICE’s movements and sending out alerts when ICE and Border Patrol units arrived in neighborhoods. Photographers, lawyers, and activists showed up to witness and document ICE’s raids. Soon, nearly every ICE raid was greeted by demonstrators. The Trump administration responded by targeting the protesters, calling them paid agents of George Soros and domestic terrorists.

Border Patrol’s roving commander, Gregory Bovino, an impresario of chaos and violence, was summoned to Minneapolis, less for his skills at tracking down wanted criminals–for which he has shown little talent–than his penchant for bombastic media appearances, made-for-TV raids and roughing up protesters. Soon, the inevitable happened. Renée Good was in the face and called a “fuckin’ bitch” by her killer as she bled to death in her car.

Three days later, Victor Manuel Diaz, a Nicaraguan immigrant who had been seized by immigration and quickly sent to an ICE prison in Texas, was found dead in his cell. DHS claimed he committed suicide. But offered no proof.

On January 18, ICE raided a house in Minneapolis without a warrant and seized a grandfather, and perp walked him out of his house in his underwear in freezing weather. The man was a US citizen and was later released.

Two days later, a five-year-old boy was seized by federal agents on his way home from pre-school and used as bait to arrest his father. Both father and son were shipped to an ICE detention prison in Texas, despite a court order and a pending asylum claim.

A civil rights lawyer and reporters were arrested and charged with federal felonies for observing protests. There was barely a provision of the Bill of Rights that the Feds didn’t almost gleefully traduce in Minneapolis. Then they killed Alex Pretti and most of the country (and the world) turned against them in horror.

Bovino was exiled, like some domestic William Calley, fingered as the scapegoat and now shunned even by bartenders in Vegas. And Homan was brought in to declare the end of Operation Metro Surge, the only time ICE has publicly announced the conclusion of an operation, which is in itself suspicious.

But again, why would anyone believe Tom Homan? This administration lies more frequently than it tells anything resembling the truth. It lies to the press. It lies to Congress. It lies to federal judges. It probably lies to itself.

During his press conference announcing the end of the surge, and in later appearances, Homan lied repeatedly. He lied about protester violence. He lied about paid protesters. He lied about ICE primarily targeting “criminal aliens.” He lied about ICE not engaging in racial profiling.

The “surge” has ended. But there are still two thousand immigration agents in the Twin Cities (nearly three times the number of local police), still doing what they’d been doing: making warrantless arrests, detaining US citizens, and harassing protesters and observers. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Yes, let’s venerate the brave souls of the Twin Cities, who came together to protect their neighbors from an invading force of masked paramilitaries. Let’s study and replicate their strategies, but be wary that the “great blonde beast” of ICE still lurks, its coffers swollen with taxpayer loot, wounded and chastened, but not slain, and, like many wounded creatures, is perhaps now even more unpredictable and dangerous.

So constant, if not eternal, vigilance remains the order of the day.

Ilhan Omar speakingon Operation Metro Surge. (Screengrab from a video posted to X.)

Rep. Ilhan Omar Statement on Homan’s Announcement Ending Operation Metro Surge:

Two of my constituents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal immigration enforcement agents. A third was shot under questionable circumstances. Thousands were tear-gassed and shot with less-lethal weapons and harassed by masked agents. What we witnessed was not law enforcement — it was militarized racial terror unleashed on the streets of Minnesota as a deliberate attempt to demonize the Somali community. Operation ‘Metro Surge’ has exposed just how far ICE is willing to go to intimidate and terrorize Black, Brown, and immigrant communities in our state. Nearly all Somalis in Minnesota are citizens, yet ICE agents harassed residents demanding proof of papers and, and when citizens sought to document these unlawful stops, they were met with lethal force. Latino, Asian, and other communities of color were forced into hiding regardless of their status, and those who dared to live their lives were often arrested with no cause. That was not public safety. That was an authoritarian abuse of power. Nothing about what we witnessed was normal. Businesses are reeling from the economic devastation. Families are shattered. Children will carry the trauma of federal agents descending on their neighborhoods for the rest of their lives. The pain inflicted on this community will not fade — it will remain etched in their memory as the moment their own government turned against them. Minnesotans are resilient, and the world has seen what makes our state strong: compassion, solidarity, and justice. But I am outraged and heartbroken that our state was forced to endure unfathomable suffering at the hands of this administration. The American people saw clearly that fear and cruelty were not side effects; they were the point. It is past time for ICE operations to leave Minnesota. And it is time to move to abolish this rogue agency so that no community in America is ever terrorized like this again. But ending this operation is not enough. There must be justice and accountability. This administration must fully cooperate with independent investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Congress must withhold funding for unlawful actions and ensure federal dollars never bankroll civil-rights violations. We should be hauling cabinet secretaries and agency heads before congressional committees and demanding sworn testimony. They must explain who authorized these actions, what legal justifications were used, and why constitutional protections were ignored. Our businesses deserve economic restitution for the harm done. I won’t rest until we can ensure this abuse of power and terror can never happen again.

Two of my constituents, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal immigration enforcement agents. A third was shot under questionable circumstances. Thousands were tear-gassed and shot with less-lethal weapons and harassed by masked agents. What we witnessed was not law enforcement — it was militarized racial terror unleashed on the streets of Minnesota as a deliberate attempt to demonize the Somali community.

Operation ‘Metro Surge’ has exposed just how far ICE is willing to go to intimidate and terrorize Black, Brown, and immigrant communities in our state. Nearly all Somalis in Minnesota are citizens, yet ICE agents harassed residents demanding proof of papers and, and when citizens sought to document these unlawful stops, they were met with lethal force. Latino, Asian, and other communities of color were forced into hiding regardless of their status, and those who dared to live their lives were often arrested with no cause. That was not public safety. That was an authoritarian abuse of power.

Nothing about what we witnessed was normal. Businesses are reeling from the economic devastation. Families are shattered. Children will carry the trauma of federal agents descending on their neighborhoods for the rest of their lives. The pain inflicted on this community will not fade — it will remain etched in their memory as the moment their own government turned against them.

Minnesotans are resilient, and the world has seen what makes our state strong: compassion, solidarity, and justice. But I am outraged and heartbroken that our state was forced to endure unfathomable suffering at the hands of this administration. The American people saw clearly that fear and cruelty were not side effects; they were the point.

It is past time for ICE operations to leave Minnesota. And it is time to move to abolish this rogue agency so that no community in America is ever terrorized like this again. But ending this operation is not enough. There must be justice and accountability. This administration must fully cooperate with independent investigations into the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Congress must withhold funding for unlawful actions and ensure federal dollars never bankroll civil-rights violations. We should be hauling cabinet secretaries and agency heads before congressional committees and demanding sworn testimony. They must explain who authorized these actions, what legal justifications were used, and why constitutional protections were ignored. Our businesses deserve economic restitution for the harm done. I won’t rest until we can ensure this abuse of power and terror can never happen again.

Minnesota State Senator Erin Maye Quade: On New Year’s Eve 2025, the DHS said they want to achieve 100 million deportations. That is a third of the population in the US. There are not 100 million immigrants in this country. They have deported US citizens. We absolutely should see Minnesota as the........

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