Minneapolis Chief on Policing a City in Chaos

The Minneapolis Police Department was already understaffed when Operation Metro Surge funneled more than 3,000 federal agents into the city for the Trump administration’s latest sweeping and highly public immigration enforcement operation. The surge has resulted in “chaos,” says police Chief Brian O’Hara.

The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two American citizens, sparked widespread outcry and large-scale protests. And agents’ tendency to go masked and unidentified is feeding fear of violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) impersonators in a state where a man masquerading as law enforcement assassinated a House representative.

“There’s a legitimate fear in the community. It’s dramatically impacting people’s daily lives,” O’Hara says.

Calls Pour In

O’Hara estimates ICE-related activity has driven up calls to local police by 10-15 percent.

Residents are reporting suspicious people wearing masks knocking on doors, uncertain whether they’re witnessing a kidnapper or genuine federal agent, he tells Governing. (In one instance, the masked individual was not affiliated with federal law enforcement, O’Hara says.) The department is also answering calls to tow cars left abandoned after ICE arrested the driver. And officers are receiving calls to provide medical aid to residents who’ve been tear gassed or pepper sprayed at protests.

To manage it all, the department has created a 24/7 operation center with a lieutenant whose full-time job is now triaging calls about ICE. The center also includes people monitoring social media feeds and surveillance footage throughout the city ”so that when these calls come in, they can try and get as much information as possible in real time” to help identify whether something is a real crisis, and which situations are most pressing. Learning more about a scene before officers respond also helps them arrive prepared and with a plan to get in and out as quickly and safely as possible, O’Hara says.

The police department has gotten help from surrounding localities and other officers. St. Paul covered the city’s 911 calls for 24 hours, and National Guard troops have joined police on missions. Even so, the department has had to cancel officers’ time off, issue emergency recalls of off-duty police, and pile on overtime, with some police shifts stretching 16 hours or more.

“We've already spent more overtime this month related to ICE activity and the protests than what the police department was budgeted for on the overtime line for the entire year,” O’Hara says. “It’s taken a tremendous toll on the wellbeing of the police officers here.”

That’s both emotional and physical. Cops have been taken away from caring for sick parents or showing up for their children: “An officer missed his child's 10th birthday,” O’Hara recounts.

Minneapolis is under extreme stress and unrest that, for many, calls back to the traumatic days after George Floyd’s murder. The department bled officers after that year, O’Hara says. He’s hoping lessons learned since then will help retain resident trust and that the stress won’t lead to another mass exodus of police officers.

Can Community Trust Survive?

After Floyd’s death, the department had to work to restore trust and faith in its officers. Without that trust, people won’t report crimes or assist in investigations, O’Hara says. Now, police are fighting to preserve it.

Operation Metro Surge has largely focused on Minneapolis’ Somali, Latino and “to a lesser extent, ironically, our Native American” populations, O’Hara says. The police chief has been meeting monthly with Somali imams and elders and every other week with Latino pastors and business owners in an effort to maintain the community’s trust.

Police also designated “dialogue” officers to connect with residents in the neighborhoods where legal observer and poet Renee Good was killed and businesses in the business corridor where intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was killed. Dialogue officers establish relationships and address local safety concerns.

Minneapolis police constantly monitor the vigil sites but avoid interfering with first amendment activity that is not a public safety risk, O’Hara says. O’Hara credits de-escalation techniques with preventing looting or buildings being set on fire, “which was a real risk at the time,” after ICE agents killed Pretti and “continuously inflame[ed] the situation” by repeatedly hitting crowds with less-lethal weapons and gas.

Residents in Minneapolis have accused ICE agents of overusing less-lethal munitions and of escalating interactions with protesters, leading to violence. Residents — and a neighboring police chief — have accused agents of racial profiling. The worsening relationship between the public and federal agents can bleed over into public perceptions of local police. “Police are the only branches of government that we have access to, and oftentimes, how we feel about the federal government, our mayor, or whomever, we take it out on police,” says Thaddeus Johnson, senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice and former Memphis, Tenn., law enforcement official.

The federal government, for its part, has staunchly defended agents’ actions. In January, a court issued a preliminary injunction barring ICE agents from retaliating against people “engaging in peaceful and unobtrusive protest activity,” including arresting them or using pepper spray and non-lethal munitions. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in response that “DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.” DHS filed a motion arguing that the lawsuit against ICE was based on five December incidents that the plaintiffs can “only speculate may recur,” and that limiting officers’ responses to protestors puts them and the public in danger. An appeals court, granting the Homeland Security request, temporarily lifted the injunction.

The Department of Homeland Security also says that assaults against ICE officers rose over 1,300 percent from January 2025 to December 2025 as “a direct result of sanctuary politicians and the media creating an environment that demonizes our law enforcement,” blaming comments from the likes of Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz.

O’Hara is trying to find the right balance to keep police safe while avoiding inflaming tensions. Showing up to police a large protest in riot gear can escalate the situation, but unprotected officers have also gotten hurt, he says.

Police tried to get ICE officers out of the neighborhood after an agent killed Good. For the most part, police without protective gear were able to keep the crowd calm, O’Hara says. But ICE fired less-lethal munitions and gas as they were leaving, further angering civilians who began throwing debris. One police officer got glass in their face when someone threw ice or rocks at the window of their squad car and another suffered a concussion after being hit with a chunk of thrown ice.

Police’s Delicate Role

Trust is most strained between police and protestors, who often don’t understand what cops are trying to do at a scene and misinterpret them as aiding ICE, O’Hara says. Police need to protect a crime scene to preserve evidence for investigation, but this often looks like establishing a police line to protect federal officers. And while most protests are peaceful, cops have had to arrest people causing property damage and potentially forcing entry into hotels where ICE agents are staying.

“Some people look at that as, 'Oh, well, you’re protecting ICE.' No. We’re trying to protect everyone,” O’Hara says.

Johnson advises cities and police to create clear policies explaining to the public, federal government and cops themselves the nature and extent of police engagement with ICE and what cops will or won’t do. When residents are uncertain about what their police officers are doing, fear spreads.

Johnson says he recommends that local leaders and departments cooperate with federal agents, even if they don’t agree with them. Establishing a partnership, he says, could give local officials more influence over making operations safer than if federal agents act alone.

“When you catch wind that they can be coming to your town, get out and start talking to your people, talking to your leaders, and reaching out to the federal government and building a partnership,” he says. “You can’t stop ICE operations in your town …and if you don't support it and be part of it, you kind of give full power into the federal authorities’ hands.”

Minneapolis leaders, however, have remained steadfast that they will not assist ICE in enforcement operations. Mayor Jacob Frey signed an executive order barring federal agents from operating on city property. City policy continues to hold that police will not work with federal immigration enforcement.

“We do not want you here,” Frey said after agents killed Good. “Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized — and now somebody is dead.”

Police Are Limited

Minneapolis protestors who oppose ICE tactics want police to intercede. “But we have no control, literally, over federal law enforcement, enforcing federal law,” O’Hara says.

There are limited cases where local police can intervene in federal operations. Under Minnesota law, a police officer must see someone dealing out excessive force and have a “reasonable and safe” opportunity to step in to stop the attack before it’s over.

“If an agent shoved somebody to the ground, and it might look like the person wasn't doing anything and it was inappropriate, the action is already over by the time it's observed,” he says. At that point, the cop cannot intervene but still must report what they saw.

It’s not just civilians confused about what the police can do: ICE agents have shown up to police stations demanding cops arrest people who are following them on public roads or blowing whistles, but not actually threatening public safety or breaking a law, O’Hara says.

All of this is wearing on police. And in the meantime, there are still everyday crimes to solve.

“Still all the things that happen in cities are happening in the background, as we have tens of thousands of people marching in protest and shootings involving federal law enforcement,” O’Hara says. “You cannot overstate the level of tension and the level of fear in the community that’s just been spun up by the federal government.”