This record establishes that federal immigration activities during Operation Metro Surge and Operation PARRIS violated the U.S. and Minnesota Cons utions and laid waste to due process and the rule of law. As Chair, throughout the public meetings, I heard Minnesotans speak to the violent, gratuitously cruel, inhumane, and deeply disturbing actions of federal agents on some of the shortest, coldest days of the year. From the killing of two Americans to the more than 70 Minnesota children detained between December 1, 2025, and March 10, 2026, and the $244 million in lost wages by workers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul alone, the harm was felt both broadly and deeply. Operation Metro Surge and Operation PARRIS produced a much wider social and economic shock across Minnesota. Fear, disruption, and the ensuing psychological trauma are substantive harms, not merely side effects. The impacts include school absences, lost wages, reduced health care access, business losses, and social isolation.
However, do enting harm is not only about creating a historical record; it can also be the foundation for understanding, acknowledgement, reform, accountability, and hope. What we have heard from Minnesotans affirms the fundamental belief in the goodness of people and their ability to help when they see a need. Parents drove childcare providers and teachers to school; neighbors pooled resources to cover rent; local businesses opened their doors to those in need. We witnessed the incredible depth and diversity of formal and informal emergency response systems across Minnesota and the scale at which they responded. These actions are so powerful. Solidarity is powerful. Minnesota’s response is a model to which the world can look to when facing the darkest of days, a model which we very well may need again. As the council heard, violations and abuses continue across Minnesota. The ongoing fear, threats of retribution and aggressive immigration enforcement by the federal government persist. We, as Minnesotans and Americans, are animated and motivated by rights and the law, and we will not cease to call on all to support and defend the Cons ution of the United States.
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