Operation Metro Surge led to an estimated $600 million loss in revenue to businesses in St. Paul and Minneapolis, according to a new filing in a lawsuit against the federal government.

The lawsuit says St. Paul and Minneapolis residents also missed out on an estimated $240 million in wages.

Filed by the state of Minnesota and both Twin Cities in January, the federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. Department of Homeland Security violated the law and Constitution during the unprecedented surge in immigration enforcement. The amended complaint filed this week includes new information from researchers.

“During the unlawful Operation Metro Surge, DHS agents took the lives of two Minnesotans and caused severe harm to countless more residents of our state, to cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, and to the state of Minnesota itself,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in a Tuesday statement. “… We are fighting to have Operation Metro Surge declared unlawful to protect Minnesota from ever having to endure another violent, painful, and destructive federal occupation again.”

A DHS spokesperson said Wednesday that “the cost of American lives saved” can’t be calculated.

“Our law enforcement is removing thousands of convicted murderers, rapists, child abusers from the country,” the statement said. “President Trump is committed to keeping Americans safe. Let’s be clear, if there was any correlation between rampant illegal immigration and a good economy, Biden would have had a booming economy. Removing these criminals from the streets makes communities safer for business owners and customers.”

Federal agents arrested more than 3,700 people during the federal government’s immigration surge into Minnesota this winter. The vast majority were arrested for civil immigration violations. Some of those arrested with criminal histories were taken directly from jails or prisons, rather than through targeted enforcement actions, according to federal data.

The DHS “Worst of the Worst” website does not include locations of offenses or dates of birth. Without that information, independent verification of these cases through state and federal court records systems is unreliable.

Economic impacts

The U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California San Diego surveyed 1,390 adults and found about 25 percent had interactions with DHS agents during Metro Surge, according to research included in the amended complaint in the lawsuit.

In St. Paul, survey respondents who had an encounter with DHS were nearly 27 percent more likely to have missed work than those who did not. Researchers estimated missed wages based on that information from St. Paul and Minneapolis respondents.

In a survey regarding businesses, with almost 900 respondents, about 60 percent in St. Paul and Minneapolis reported Operation Metro Surge had a negative impact on their operations. They said customers were avoiding the area due to fear of DHS agents.

Researchers calculated that Minneapolis businesses likely lost nearly $445 million in revenue and St. Paul businesses about $165 million.

While Operation Metro Surge was officially underway, Minnesota economically fell “behind the rest of the country, with the heaviest losses concentrated in industries targeted by immigration enforcement,” North Star Policy Action said in a Wednesday statement about their analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Minnesota’s unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points over the three-month period of Metro Surge, tying for the second-largest increase of any state, while the national unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percentage points, according to North Star Policy Action.

The leisure and hospitality sector lost 5,700 jobs since December, a 2.1 percent drop that ranked as the second largest of all states.

And Minnesota lost 4,400 construction jobs since December, a 3 percent decline and the largest of any state. “These seasonally adjusted losses indicate a real downturn, not typical seasonal fluctuation,” according to North Star Policy Action.

Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, presented legislation at Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate Taxes Committee that would help cities cover increased costs from staff overtime due to Operation Metro Surge, and require cities to seek reimbursement from the federal government for such costs.

“I remain committed to fighting for our communities: advocating, rebuilding, and directing resources toward recovery wherever they’re needed most,” St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her said in a statement about the updated lawsuit. “Many businesses, especially in communities of color, are still grappling with the lasting impacts of the Trump administration’s actions. No community should have to endure what ours has faced.”

Less likely to trust law enforcement

The survey also found that people of color in Minneapolis were nearly 33 percent more likely than white respondents to be questioned about their race, ethnicity or national origin during Operation Metro Surge.

For people who reported having at least one interaction with federal immigration agents, about 91 percent in St. Paul said agents did not show them an administrative or judicial warrant. Nearly 13 percent reported they said “no” to federal agents entering their home, but the agents entered anyway, according to the survey.

Nearly 66 percent of St. Paul residents who were part of the survey and had an encounter with DHS agents said they were less likely to seek help from law enforcement in the future.

“The less trust there is between police and the communities they serve, the fewer people there are who come forward to share information with law enforcement that may be necessary to solve a particular crime or catch an offender,” Ellison’s office said in a Tuesday statement.

Motion to dismiss

Attorneys for the federal government filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in March. They noted the immigration enforcement operation began in Minnesota in December and has since concluded, and that U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez denied a preliminary injunction in January to stop the immigration enforcement surge.

“Plaintiffs lacked standing to bring many of their claims when they filed their complaint,” attorneys wrote in their motion. “… Plaintiffs fail to plausibly allege that Defendants violated the Constitution by prioritizing immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota.”

Menendez wrote in a Tuesday order that the amended complaint from Minnesota and the cities made the motion to dismiss moot, but she noted it does not prevent the government’s attorneys from filing another motion to dismiss based on the amended complaint.

©2026 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at twincities.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.