Minnesota Truth Council concludes public testimony on Operation Metro Surge

Gov. Tim Walz established the Minnesota Truth Council by executive order in March and selected former Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill — best known as the judge in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin — to lead the council. 

Truth commissions are a common practice in the aftermath of human rights abuses committed by governments — for example, in Argentina in the wake of a military dictatorship, and in South Africa following the end of apartheid.

Tuesday’s hearing, the first and only one outside of the Twin Cities, focused on federal policies and systems contributing to harm, featuring testimony from former federal officials, legal experts, immigrant support groups and immigrants affected by Operation Metro Surge. 

A former high-ranking Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in the Biden administration, Claire Trickler-McNulty, called the operation “a travesty.”

Minnesota Truth Council begins process of documenting impact of federal immigration operations

“Too many systems failed at once, and they failed far too easily because the Department of Homeland Security was filled with structural flaws that have never been corrected, and because this administration was willing to exploit them,” Trickler-McNulty said. 

One flaw, Trickler-McNulty said, is that previous administrations prioritized the arrest of people who posed a public safety threat — but that was an executive choice and a result of budget constraints, rather than a law passed by Congress. So nothing is stopping the Trump administration from targeting people without criminal records, or those who have lived in the U.S. for a long time. 

(Congressional Republicans have accused Trickler-McNulty of “working to effectively abolish ICE from the inside.”)

Other speakers addressed the politicization of the Justice Department; the increase in racial profiling and Supreme Court decisions allowing it; the rollback of protections and services for unaccompanied immigrant children; and the targeting of refugees for deportation, among other topics. 

Ryan Wood, a former assistant chief immigration judge who oversaw the immigration court at Fort Snelling, recounted his decision to retire in January 2025, just after President Donald Trump took office for his second term. 

“I saw the writing on the wall,” Wood said, as top leaders of the immigration court system resigned and were replaced by people with little or no relevant experience. 

Immigration courts are part of the executive branch, and the Trump administration has engaged in a systematic purge of immigration judges who are likely to grant immigrants relief, such as freedom from detention while their cases work through the system. Those judges were replaced by people who back the president’s mass deportation efforts, and who order deportations at much higher rates. 

The truth council will include policy recommendations at the local, state and federal levels in its report to prevent another Operation Metro Surge. 

“Independence is the first reform that I would recommend,” Wood said. 

The Advocates for Human Rights, a Minnesota-based nonprofit that consults on human rights issues worldwide, is staffing the commission and writing the council’s report. A preliminary report is due at the end of October, and a final report by Dec. 1. 

Cahill, the council chair, said he had invited Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Attorney General Todd Blanche to appear but did not receive a response. 

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