LOS ANGELES, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Minnesota officials on Thursday responded with cautious optimism to Trump administration's announcement that it would end large-scale federal immigration enforcement operations in the state and demanded investigation.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said at a press conference that "We are cautiously optimistic, as we've said, that this surge of untrained, aggressive federal agents are going to leave Minnesota" and "the road to recovery starts now" for the state.
The governor noted that the federal government "needs to pay for what they broke here."
"They left us with deep damage. Generational trauma. They left us with economic ruin in some cases. They left us with many unanswered questions," said Walz, adding: "Where are our children? Where and what is the process of the investigations into those that were responsible for the deaths of Renee (Good) and Alex (Pretti)?"
The fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis in January sparked nationwide protests against federal immigration enforcement. The governor was also referencing several schoolchildren who have been detained by federal agents during Operation Metro Surge.
Operation Metro Surge, launched by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in December 2025, deployed over 3,000 federal agents to the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. DHS announced last week that "law enforcement arrested more than 4,000 illegal aliens, including violent criminal illegal aliens, since Operation Metro Surge began in Minnesota."
"This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it's time for a great comeback. We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I'm hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a post on X.
White House border czar Tom Homan said on Thursday that with coordination from state officials and local law enforcement, he proposed the end of the operation, and President Donald Trump agreed.
Walz and Frey, both Democrats, and other local and state officials in Minnesota have been outspoken critics of the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state. They also called for an independent investigation into the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents. ■