Human Impact Project

Quentin Williams, an assistant teacher known as 'Mr. Q' at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis and a graduate of the school, was tackled and choked by federal agents on January 7, 2026, during a Border Patrol operation known as Operation Metro Surge. Agents pursuing a vehicle in a chase swarmed the school's front lawn as students were being dismissed; body camera footage shows agents grabbing and choking Williams after he helped up a colleague who had been knocked down while trying to keep agents off school property. DHS said the driver had struck a government vehicle and that a man identifying himself as a teacher assaulted an agent while a crowd threw objects. Williams was placed in an unmarked SUV, detained, and later federally charged with assaulting and impeding officers; the charges were dropped months later. He said, 'I feel lucky to be alive,' described fearing for his life, believes he was targeted because he is Black, and has struggled with anxiety since. Minneapolis Public Schools closed all schools citywide for several days afterward, and Williams is now pursuing a Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuit with the MacArthur Justice Center and Friedman, Gilbert and Gerhardstein.

Tou Lue Vang, a Laotian citizen who legally entered the United States in 1994, was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child between 2002 and 2004. He was ordered deported in October 2006 but remained in the country for approximately 20 years because Laos restricted deportee acceptance. ICE arrested Vang on December 10, 2025, with plans to deport him based on his prior conviction. A federal judge in the District of Minnesota ordered his release from ICE custody on February 19, 2026. The Minnesota Clemency Review Commission granted Vang a pardon on June 10, 2026, which removed the conviction from his record. Despite the pardon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated Vang's legal status, and ICE deported him to Laos on July 10, 2026. DHS argued that the pardon did not prevent removal, and the agency criticized the clemency decision.

Fourteen anti-ICE protesters affiliated with Direct Action Minnesota and the Black Cat Workers' Collective pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges of conspiring to impede immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota. The group is accused of tracking officers and setting up blockades around the Whipple Federal Building. A 15th defendant, Kyle Wagner, remains jailed after being charged in February. The court proceedings focused on managing discovery of 20 terabytes of evidence, primarily Signal chat messages between defendants.

A 24-year-old woman originally from Guatemala who was detained by ICE in Minnesota and transferred to South Dakota was later held for four months at a detention center in Texas, where she suffered from a painful ovarian cyst and was denied surgery. Congressional intervention helped secure her a temporary reprieve from deportation, and she has since returned to Minnesota, living with her mother and siblings in a Burnsville apartment while wearing an ankle monitor. She is now pursuing an asylum case, and her family had previously raised funds for her legal expenses.

An immigration detainee was held at Crow Wing County Jail under immigration enforcement authority. He filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the lawfulness and duration of his detention. The federal court granted a preliminary injunction preventing his removal from Minnesota pending resolution of claims regarding detention authority and custody legality.

Cameron Kennedy, a Minneapolis resident who monitored ICE activity in the city, is one of 15 defendants facing a federal indictment for conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers during Operation Metro Surge, with an arraignment scheduled for July 1. Prosecutors allege Kennedy and co-defendants, some linked to groups including Direct Action Minnesota and the Black Cat Worker Collective, coordinated protest actions such as blockades and surveillance of ICE operations via encrypted communications. Kennedy, who says he has protested government policies since age 15 and was previously arrested at a 2008 Iraq War protest in St. Paul, faces up to six years in prison but says no defendant, including himself, is accused of violence. Other co-defendants face additional charges such as assault on a federal officer and interstate stalking.

Cal Robinet, a 37-year-old union electrician, and 14 others were arrested by federal agents in the Twin Cities on June 16 and charged with conspiracy to impede or injure immigration enforcement officers during Operation Metro Surge. The defendants include teachers, union organizers, and transgender rights activists who opposed the massive immigration enforcement operation. The Justice Department has characterized them as members of Antifa, while legal observers have questioned whether the prosecution focuses on crimes or ideology.

Erik Davis, a 53-year-old Buddhist studies scholar at Macalester College and father of two, was arrested on June 16, 2026, when federal agents stopped his car en route to a medical appointment and placed him in a belly chain. He is among 15 defendants, including members of Direct Action Minnesota, indicted on federal conspiracy charges accusing them of using force, intimidation, and threats to impede ICE officers, with prosecutors citing alleged ties to antifa but not alleging specific injuries to officers. Davis has called the case "petty revenge" meant to criminalize community organizing, and civil rights advocates say the prosecution is designed to chill protest activity following large demonstrations against a federal immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities earlier this year.

On June 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducted a targeted enforcement operation at a residential development site (Villas at Vista North) in Bemidji, Minnesota, detaining between 23-30 construction and roofing workers. Local police and sheriff's office confirmed they were not notified in advance and did not participate in the operation, though ICE had notified the sheriff's office of planned activities. Family members posted on social media seeking support and launched fundraising campaigns to cover legal fees. Community members, including members of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, gathered to protest the enforcement action.

Treasure Thoreson, a special education teacher in Minneapolis, was arrested at her home in June 2026 after participating in protests against ICE enforcement actions. Thoreson and 14 others were charged with conspiracy to impede federal agents, based on their involvement in blockades outside the Whipple Federal Building, which served as ICE's headquarters during an immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. The government cited encrypted messaging app communications as evidence. Legal experts have expressed concern that such conspiracy charges may be stretching legal boundaries to target political activists opposing the Trump administration's deportation agenda.

Paul Johnson and at least 17 other individuals were charged with assaulting federal officers during an ICE operation in Minneapolis in January 2026. Johnson reported that ICE and CBP agents boxed in his truck, swarmed him, and struck him repeatedly with punches and pepper spray. He was shackled to a hospital bed for five days following the incident. Federal prosecutors dismissed charges against all 18 defendants by June 2026 after a federal magistrate and judge raised concerns about the credibility of sworn affidavits submitted by federal agents, including one HSI agent whose statements lacked personal knowledge of events. The dismissals cited insufficient evidence and misconduct by federal agents.

Aliya Rahman, a Bangladeshi American U.S. citizen with autism and traumatic brain injury, was detained by ICE agents in Minneapolis on her way to a doctor's appointment during Operation Metro Surge. At the intersection of 34th Street and Park Avenue, agents smashed her passenger side window and violently pulled her from her car despite her calling out that she was disabled. Four agents carried her handcuffed in a hogtied position before placing her in an SUV and transporting her to the Whipple Federal Building. At the facility, her requests for medical care were denied for more than an hour until she lost consciousness and was transported to the emergency room. She was released without charge and never cited, and subsequently filed formal complaints alleging violations of her First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights, as well as human rights breaches, and pursued a tort claim for damages from unlawful detention and detention conditions.

Virginia was detained in January 2026 during the Midway Blitz Operation in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was transferred to Adelanto Detention Center in California, where a judge set her bond at $35,000. She was released in CA, where she had no contacts, without any means for returning home to MN.

Oudone Lothirath, a 57-year-old Laotian refugee who came to the U.S. as a child in the early 1980s, was detained by ICE agents who swarmed his Minneapolis home in January 2026 during an immigration enforcement surge in the city. Despite suffering from terminal Hodgkin's lymphoma requiring chemotherapy, as well as diabetes and a heart condition, he was transferred roughly 1,300 miles to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, where he slept in a tent with about 60 other detainees and received no medical care for 10 days, missing two chemotherapy sessions. He was a working member of Minneapolis's Lao community who attended a local Buddhist temple and held a valid work authorization card issued in 2023. He was released after his care assistant, Christina Vilay, urged his doctors to send an urgent letter to the facility's warden, but he later missed further sessions due to hospitalization, and his cancer has since spread to his bone marrow. Vilay said he would have had 'many more months' to live had he completed his scheduled chemotherapy, and he is now receiving hospice care at her home.

A Twin Cities activist initially facing four felony charges and decades in prison for allegedly assaulting federal agents during an anti-immigration enforcement protest in south Minneapolis has accepted a plea deal reducing the charges to a single misdemeanor, avoiding prison time and a felony record. Her guilty plea marks the first conviction federal prosecutors have secured against a Minnesota protester arrested during the operation. Charges against a third of the 36 people originally arrested have been dismissed, while others continue to fight their cases.

Ricky Chandee, a 52-year-old engineering technician for the city of Minneapolis and a Laotian refugee, was detained by ICE agents at his home in Brooklyn Park on January 24 amid a surge of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Chandee, who fled Laos after the Vietnam War and never naturalized as a U.S. citizen, was targeted over a drive-by shooting conviction from more than three decades earlier. He was transported to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, where he faced possible deportation to Laos. His case was reported alongside other Laotian refugees in Minnesota being deported at high rates under the Trump administration's mass deportation push, despite decades spent building lives and careers in the state. On May 4, 2026, the Minnesota Board of Pardons unanimously granted Chandee a pardon, one day before his scheduled deportation, potentially eliminating the legal basis for his removal.

At "Ricky" Chandee has spent 90 days in ICE detention as the Trump Administration seeks to deport him to Laos based on a conviction from the early 1990s. His family is working to prevent his deportation and keep him in the United States.

Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., an ICE agent, allegedly pointed his duty weapon at two civilians during a traffic incident on a Minnesota highway near the Crosstown at Minnesota 62 and Interstate 35W. According to reports, Morgan was driving an unmarked SUV on the highway shoulder when he pulled up next to another vehicle and pointed his gun at the occupants' heads after claiming the other driver had cut him off. The civilians were unaware Morgan was a law enforcement officer, as he was not in uniform and his vehicle bore no law enforcement markings. The driver called 911 following the confrontation. Morgan was subsequently charged with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

A Venezuelan citizen who entered the U.S. without inspection in September 2023 and was released on recognizance was arrested by ICE in Lakeville, Minnesota on April 13, 2026. He challenged his mandatory detention under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2) through a habeas corpus petition, arguing he should be eligible for bond under § 1226(a). The court denied his petition, ruling that under Eighth Circuit precedent, noncitizens present in the U.S. who have not been admitted are necessarily "seeking admission" and subject to mandatory detention.

A 17-year-old Hispanic minor was detained by ICE agents at a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota, during Operation Metro Surge. Federal Judge Eric Tostrud concluded that the minor was detained solely because of his race or ethnicity, without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. The incident is part of an ongoing ACLU lawsuit challenging ICE's racial profiling practices in Minnesota.