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On social media, in press releases, and in public statements by its leaders, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been implying that ICE’s street-level sweeps have netted criminals they call the “worst of the worst” — and that Minnesota has been protecting those people from capture.

Every few days since Operation Metro Surge began, DHS has released lists of people it says have been arrested. 

MPR News examined one of the lists shared by DHS officials on Monday, Jan. 12 and found that most of the people on the list had been immediately transferred to ICE custody at the end of time served in Minnesota prisons. 

All of those transfers happened before ICE began its surge of operations in Minnesota on Dec. 1, 2025, with some even happening years before.

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DHS has also accused Minnesota prisons of not cooperating with immigration enforcement. But the department said it coordinated with ICE on the release of 84 prisoners last year, several of whom have shown up on DHS “worst of the worst” lists.

“We are part of the overall criminal justice system and our statutory obligation is to provide support, including to ICE and notification to ICE and we do that,” said Minnesota Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell. 

MPR News looked at the criminal histories, public records and available prison records of the 13 individuals on the Jan. 12 “worst of the worst” list.

According to Department of Corrections records, five of those individuals were transferred from prison custody to ICE custody between August and late November. Three others were handed over to ICE custody by DOC during previous presidential administrations. 

And one person was offered to be released to ICE custody more than a decade ago and ICE declined, according to the DOC.

The incarcerated individuals picked up by ICE agents from state prisons in 2025, according to DOC records:

Individuals released by DOC into ICE custody before 2025, according to DOC records:

Of the others on the list of 13, one was put on probation for 30 years and was never in DOC custody, and two were only ever in the custody of county jails and never in DOC custody. 

One person on the list was convicted of crimes in Ohio, where it is unclear if they had an ICE detainer, which is a request to hold a prisoner for another agency. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction did not respond for a request for information on the matter.

Some of the criminals in question have never been in DOC custody. Rather, they’ve been in county jails. That’s where DHS’s bigger issue has been. 

DHS officials have argued that because some Minnesota county jails refuse to honor ICE detainers, it means agents have to track them down in the community after their jail sentence is through. 

County jails are where people are held before trial, or are sent if their sentence is less than a year. Their policies are not set by the DOC, rather by each county. 

The state’s largest county, Hennepin, does not work “with any agency on civil immigration enforcement,” according to a statement on its website. “That means we do not assist with or comply with any civil immigration requests from ICE.“ 

The county said it does not honor administrative detainers, only detainers signed by a judge.

Other counties, like Sherburne, Freeborn and Kandiyohi, work with ICE and have contracts to hold ICE detainees. 

Many counties fall into a space between, where they will work with federal law enforcement if they have someone with an ICE detainer in custody, but they won’t hold a person in detention for ICE.

Schnell said by policy Minnesota prisons contact ICE when a prisoner without legal status is in custody, and ICE has the opportunity to set up a detainer. He said they communicate with ICE as the person’s prison sentence comes to an end.

“A couple weeks before [the prisoner is released], we notify ICE, and staff begin the coordination process of making arrangements for the day of their release for ICE to take custody of that person,” he said. “That's all just routinely worked out, and they come in on that day and they take custody of the person.”

Schnell said state policy is to hold an inmate in custody for the duration of their prison sentence from a Minnesota court. 

In Minnesota, a person sentenced usually serves two-thirds of their sentence in prison custody. He said he gets asked often why Minnesota does not just release prisoners to be deported instead of keeping them incarcerated at a cost to the state.

“The state has a penal and justice interest in assuring both a level of accountability and obligation that, by virtue of an individual's crime, that there is some service of that sentence,” he said. 

ICE has said it has made more than 2,000 arrests in Minnesota so far during this operation, but it is unclear how many of those people have criminal records. A 

 in early December found that about a third of the people arrested last year had no criminal record.

When asked for comment, DHS did not address the specifics of the people who the DOC said had been in its custody or respond to the DOC's statement on working with ICE.

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Immigration enforcement in Minnesota

Peter Cox

Author

Several of the 13 “worst of the worst” criminals that the Department of Homeland Security said were arrested in Minnesota through its immigration enforcement operation were actually handed over to ICE by state prisons before Operation Metro Surge began.

Nearly half of the 13 “worst of the worst” criminals that the Department of Homeland Security said were arrested in Minnesota through its immigration enforcement operation were actually netted by the law enforcement in the state before Operation Metro Surge began.

Some criminals ICE takes credit for arresting were already in Minnesota prisons

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