Three Dead. Thousands Detained. No Accountability.
Human Rights Watch’s 180-page report documents Operation Metro Surge's toll. Also: 4th of July Chanhassen protest location change.
Three Killings, No Charges
On January 7, ICE agent Jonathan Ross (who lived in Chaska, The Intercept reported) shot and killed Renée Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, through the windshield of her car on Portland Avenue near 34th Street in south Minneapolis. She and her wife were alerting neighbors of ICE’s presence when agents approached, shouted at her to get out, and reached inside her window. She reversed, then began moving forward and away from the officers. Ross fired three shots.
The Department of Homeland Security immediately called it domestic terrorism. Bystander videos told a different story.
Seventeen days later, on January 24, Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, a U.S. citizen and VA intensive care nurse, on E. 26th Street and Nicollet Avenue. He had been filming agents and stepped between them and a woman they had shoved to the ground. At least five agents pinned him down. He was shot multiple times. And, again, the administration sought to smear the victim’s name.
A third person, Victor Manuel Díaz, a Nicaraguan man arrested during the surge, died in a Texas detention facility after being taken from Minnesota.
Three people dead. Not one federal agent has been charged with the killings.
What the Report Documents
Last week, Human Rights Watch released a 180-page report titled A Manufactured Crisis: Minnesota Communities Terrorized by the Federal Government. It is the most comprehensive independent accounting yet of what the federal government did to this state between December 2025 and March 2026.
Researchers interviewed more than 130 people, including immigrants, lawyers, healthcare providers, educators, and government officials. They analyzed dozens of photographs and videos, sworn declarations, legal petitions, government data, and medical records.
Here is what they documented.
Federal agents detained at least 4,000 immigrants during Operation Metro Surge. Nearly two out of three had no U.S. criminal record. Many were detained arbitrarily. In Minnesota, lawyers filed habeas corpus petitions in 532 cases; 88 percent of those resolved resulted in an order for release or a bond hearing. That means a judge looked at the evidence and said this person should not be held.
The operation reached into schools, clinics, and neighborhoods far beyond any targeted enforcement. Residents were scared to leave home to access healthcare.
Fridley, one of the most effected school districts, reported attendance dropped nearly one-third during the surge. In St. Paul, two days after Renée Good was killed, half of the Spanish-speaking students and a quarter of Somali students were absent.
One medical provider told Human Rights Watch that at least three adolescents came in for medical care after suicide attempts, in each case because their parent had been detained.
The numbers are staggering. The city of Minneapolis’ preliminary assessment put the economic impact of just the first month at more than $203 million. A broader assessment covering December through April, released June 10, estimated the total damage to the city at nearly $700 million — $445 million in lost business revenue and $152 million in lost wages — a figure city officials say is likely an undercount. (Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 10, 2026)
Daniel Hernandez opened Colonial Market on East Lake Street in November 2024, investing $3 million and hiring 25 workers to serve the Latino community along the corridor. By the height of the surge, 90 percent of what little revenue remained came from deliveries. He laid off workers in waves — three in the summer, two in the fall, half the staff by January. At the peak, he was running the store with two people.
He is now closing the Lake Street location. “We were doing well until the ICE surge came,” he said. “Because the math doesn’t lie.” Even as his own business bled, Hernandez helped sign up roughly 6,000 children for Delegation of Parental Authority documents and connected neighbors with nurses and doctors who would visit their homes. “I had the option to either cry about my business and all the money I was losing, or begin helping the community one way or another,” he said. (Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, June 15, 2026)
Jennifer Jackson King, who has owned Prima Restaurant on Lyndale Avenue since 1999, said the operation was worse than the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her family drove employees to and from work when workers were too afraid to leave their homes. “I thought COVID was probably the most difficult time to be in our food and beverage industry,” she said. “But I think Operation Metro Surge was probably worse.” (Minnesota Star Tribune and BLCK Press, June 10, 2026)
A union organizer described the question parents were asking themselves when their child was sick: “Are they sick enough that I have to risk my family?”
A pediatrician told Human Rights Watch: “In 2020, during Covid-19, we had everyone in the same boat. But this is such a targeted population that is feeling the effects of being at home. The rest of school is going on, everyone else is advancing.”
Near-Total Impunity
Human Rights Watch’ conclusion is blunt. The many abuses committed by federal agencies have been met, in the report’s words, with “near-total impunity.” At the time of writing, two ICE officers faced local assault charges, one for pulling a gun on residents and one for the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis. No officer has been prosecuted for the killings of Renée Good or Alex Pretti.
Federal agents blocked state investigators from the scene of Pretti’s shooting. Good’s car has been sitting shrink-wrapped in an FBI warehouse for months, unexamined by state investigators. The federal government has declined to release the personnel files of the agents involved.
This is documented. It is in 180 pages. And the accountability has not come.
The Next Step: Following the Paper Trail
That is why what Governor Walz did this week matters, and why you should pay attention to it.
Two days ago, after a federal judge threw out six grand jury subpoenas targeting Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Attorney General Keith Ellison, calling them “a blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand-jury process,” Walz filed 16 Freedom of Information Act requests with federal agencies across the Trump administration. (Minnesota Public Radio, June 25, 2026)
Those requests ask for every record and communication that mentions the words “Minnesota,” “Walz,” “reckoning,” “retribution,” “punish,” or “Democrat” since January 20, 2025. The governor says Minnesota has faced more than 100 federal demands, investigations, lawsuits, and threats to withhold funding since Trump’s second term began. Trump himself posted during the surge that a “Day of Reckoning & Retribution” was coming for Minnesota. (Fox News, January 13, 2026)
A FOIA request is a formal demand, under the Freedom of Information Act, for government records. Federal agencies are legally required to respond. They can delay and they can fight it in court, but they cannot pretend the question was never asked. These 16 requests put the scope of the targeting campaign on the public record in a new way: Who ordered this, who directed it, and what has it cost us?
What You Can Do
Renée. Alex. Their names are in the report. The report is public. So is the reporting on Victor.
Human Rights Watch is calling on Congress to hold hearings on the conduct of federal agents during Operation Metro Surge, with leadership from Homeland Security, ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and the Department of Justice.
Congress has not acted.
Here is who represents you. Call them. Tell them you read the report.
Rep. Tom Emmer (CD6, House Majority Whip): 202-225-2331.
Senator Amy Klobuchar: 612-727-5220.
Senator Tina Smith: 651-221-1016.
Not sure which congressional district you’re in? Find your U.S. House representative at house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.
Local representatives need to demand justice for our fallen Minnesotans. You can probably guess who has remained silent:
Sen. Julia Coleman: 651-296-4837
Rep. Jim Nash: 651-296-4282
The Human Rights Watch report is at hrw.org. Read it. Then make the calls.
4th of July Chanhassen Protest Location
For the 4th July, the Chanhassen protest (10am - 11am) is moving to the pedestrian bridge over Highway 5. People can park along Lake St., East by the Methodist Church.
Chaska Protests
Every Friday from 3:00–4:00 p.m. at the corner of Chaska Blvd. and Chestnut Street (Highway 41) [Map]
Every Saturday from 1-2 pm at the corner of Hazeltine Boulevard and Highway 41 (Chestnut) [Map]
Chanhassen Protests
Every Saturday from 10-11 am at 7700 Market Boulevard [Map] Public parking is available behind City Hall.
Norwood Young America
Every Sunday, 11 a.m.–12 p.m. (Line up at the bike path south of Highway 212 and Faxon.)
Victoria
Every Wednesday from 4:30-5:30 pm on the corner of Highway 5 and Victoria Drive/County Rd 11.
Waconia
Every Saturday from 11:30-12:30 pm at Highway 5 and County Road 10 in front of the Starbucks and Jersey Mike’s. [Map]
SW Protectors
Every first and third Tuesday from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. It’s no cost and come and go as you like.
Please do buy something to eat or drink, though, to support our venue, which is The Bellows restaurant and it’s located at 232 Pioneer Trail in Chaska.
Devastating article but excellent journalism. Thank you for continuing to write and disrupt .