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Federal officials said they were targeting the “worst of the worst” when immigration agents flooded Minnesota over the winter. But that wasn’t the case.

Data later released through a federal lawsuit 

showed fewer than one-quarter of the more than 4,000 people arrested in Operation Metro Surge had a criminal conviction on their record

; a little more than 13 percent of those arrested had pending criminal charges. 

The trauma generated by the immigration raids, however, was widespread. 

Three months after the surge officially ended

“My girls are still scared. If someone comes to knock at our door, they run. They run because we witnessed when ICE was knocking on doors and taking people,” said Estrella, a woman who lives in a mobile home park in the Twin Cities suburbs. 

MPR News agreed to use her nickname because she said her family remains afraid of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence still in the region.

She and her husband do not have permanent legal status in the United States. They moved to the United States from Mexico more than 25 years ago. They came to Minnesota in 2016 because they believed it would be a safe place to raise a family and make a living. 

She keeps videos on her phone of the chaotic arrests of friends and neighbors, including some she witnessed. She said that a friend was detained in December “in a horrible manner, worse than an actual criminal.”

Estrella said she realized then that she could be detained even driving on the highway. She called her boss to say she couldn't come to work. Her husband left his job too. 

At times during the federal raids, she said she and her husband would tell their daughters to lock themselves in their room and turn on the TV because if ICE came to take their parents, “I wouldn’t want my girls to witness that.”

While immigration agent levels in the Twin Cities have receded, “we are still seeing much more heightened ICE activity today than we did prior to Metro Surge, and certainly much higher than it was under prior administrations,” said Michael Davis, an area attorney who’s been practicing immigration law for nearly 40 years. In some ways, he added, the winter raids were “ just the tip of the iceberg.”

Estrella said she and her husband have returned to work but their finances have been strained. Out of pride, she said they never relied on food stamps or government assistance. Food deliveries from strangers kept them afloat for a time, something she said she’s grateful for.

“I'm an immigrant, and I came to the United States to work and to work hard, and I'm not expecting handouts,” she said.

For the past month or so, she and her husband have sparingly begun to visit the grocery store. They still watch their backs. 

She said she dreams of gaining legal status in the U.S. so she can get a better job and feel more financially stable and she hopes a future president will create opportunities for immigrants to get legal status.

The surge didn’t extinguish their will to build a life for themselves in Minnesota, Estrella added.

Despite the trauma, she said her husband always reminds her that “God is good.”

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For some immigrant families in Minnesota, life hasn't gone back to normal. One family that sheltered for three months during Operation Metro Surge is still watching their backs. 

Estrella looks through the window of her home

Kerem Yücel | MPR News

Estrella looks through the door of her home

Estrella looks through the blinds of her home

Some Minnesota immigrants still live in fear 3 months after 'Operation Metro Surge'

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