How many individuals named by DHS during Operation Metro Surge were transferred from state custody before the operation began?
Executive summary
DHS materials and news reporting around Operation Metro Surge reference large numbers of people in state custody whom DHS says had ICE detainers but do not provide a clear count of how many individuals “named by DHS” were transferred from state custody into federal custody before the operation began, and the available public sources reviewed do not supply that specific timeline data [1] [2] [3]. Multiple outlets report DHS urging Minnesota officials to honor more than 1,360 ICE detainers of people in state or local custody, but those statements do not identify how many of those named were actually transferred prior to the surge’s launch [1] [2] [3].
1. The DHS claim most frequently cited — 1,360 detainers — is not the same as a pre-operation transfer count
DHS repeatedly framed its Minnesota messaging around “more than 1,360” individuals subject to ICE detainers in state custody and urged Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to honor those detainers, a figure repeated in DHS press materials and reporting [1] [2] [3]. Those communications are public-facing tallies of people DHS believes are in custody with outstanding immigration holds, but the cited sources do not parse that aggregate into a subset “transferred from state custody before the operation began,” nor do they timestamp when transfers occurred relative to the operation’s start [1] [2].
2. Reporting and litigation paint competing pictures but also lack the time-stamped transfer data
State and city lawsuits and independent reporting describe Operation Metro Surge as a major deployment beginning in late 2025 with thousands of federal agents and hundreds or thousands of arrests, and critics allege unlawful tactics including warrantless detentions and racial profiling, yet those reports likewise stop short of enumerating transfers from state custody into federal hands before the surge began [4] [5] [6]. Local reporting and legal filings focus on the scale, tactics, and legality of DHS actions rather than producing a discrete list or count of individuals moved out of state custody prior to the operation’s formal launch [4] [5].
3. DHS arrest tallies and press lists document people arrested during the operation, not necessarily pre-operation transfers
DHS press releases and federal statements emphasize arrests made during Operation Metro Surge and spotlight “worst of the worst” profiles and numerous named cases, including a running tally of arrests since the operation’s onset, but those materials enumerate arrests attributable to the surge rather than proving that named individuals were transferred from state custody before the operation began [7] [8] [9]. Where DHS highlights named arrests or criminal histories, the documents do not always include custody-transfer timestamps, and the public records reviewed do not reconcile the detainer population with a pre-surge transfer list [7] [8].
4. Direct answer: the sources reviewed do not provide a verifiable number
The plain answer, based on the documents and reporting supplied, is that there is no verifiable, documented count in these sources of “how many individuals named by DHS during Operation Metro Surge were transferred from state custody before the operation began”; DHS’s cited 1,360-plus detainer figure is often invoked but does not equal a documented pre-operation transfer total and the litigation and press coverage do not fill that gap [1] [2] [4]. To determine a precise number would require DHS or state custodial transfer logs, ICE chain-of-custody records, or a contemporaneous public list specifying dates of transfer — records not present in the materials provided here [3] [5].