Hennepin County prosecutors dismissed cases as crime victims feared court during Operation Metro Surge
Hennepin County prosecutors had to dismiss multiple criminal cases because crime victims were afraid to travel to court during Operation Metro Surge, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office says in a report to the Minnesota Truth Council.
Operation Metro Surge began in December 2025 in Minnesota and was described by the Department of Homeland Security as the largest federal immigration law enforcement deployment in the nation's history.
The report, finalized earlier this month, lays out how the county attorney's office says the operation disrupted the county's public safety system and what prosecutors did in response.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the cases "had to be dismissed because of the federal government's behavior." That "made us all less safe," she said, and "helped defendants avoid accountability and even facilitated threats against victims." In one case described in the report, a defendant threatened a victim from abroad after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported the defendant.
More than 35 crime victims in cases the county attorney's office is prosecuting reported feeling unsafe traveling to county courthouses, the report says. It says some of them left Minnesota and, in some cases, the country entirely. Prosecutors say victims must appear in person to testify at trial, even though the office expanded its remote services.
Since May 2025, ICE has detained more than 30 defendants in active Hennepin County prosecutions, according to the report. Two were taken out of Minnesota within hours. The county attorney's office says ICE does not notify prosecutors when it deports a defendant.
Prosecutors presented ICE with state court orders directing the return of 20 defendants to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. ICE returned eight to be prosecuted, the report says. It says ICE refused to return nine, disregarding the orders, and claimed to be unable to return the other three.
The report says nearly two out of three immigrants arrested by ICE during the operation had no prior U.S. criminal history, citing a Human Rights Watch report. Dozens of those arrested were crime victims themselves, the report says.
The county attorney's office says armed and masked federal agents raided county courthouses during the operation. Hennepin County prosecutors and law enforcement partners, including the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, sent two letters asking then-Chief Justice Natalie Hudson to prohibit civil enforcement actions, including immigration enforcement, in courthouses. Connecticut and Oregon already had such policies. Hudson declined, most recently on March 6.
Federal agents shot three Hennepin County residents between Jan. 7 and Jan. 24, killing two, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the report says. It says federal agencies barred state investigators from shooting scenes and withheld evidence. The county attorney's office and state partners have sued the federal government twice. The office announced July 13 that it had obtained some withheld evidence, but the report says federal cooperation soon halted again and litigation continues.
The county attorney's office has charged two ICE agents. Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. was charged April 16 with two counts of second-degree assault for allegedly pointing a weapon at two people while driving alongside them. Christian Castro was charged May 18 with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime for allegedly firing through the front door of a home.
The county attorney's Transparency and Accountability Project, launched March 2, is investigating more than 30 federal actions. Its investigator has conducted more than 100 witness interviews and collected more than 1,100 photos and videos. Prosecutors say identifying agents is difficult because most wore face coverings and the federal government has not shared evidence.
WCCO has reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for comment and is awaiting responses.
