What is the biggest percentage of ICE agents sent to which cities?
Executive summary
The preponderance of reporting says the Twin Cities — Minneapolis–St. Paul — received the single largest, most heavily publicized surge of ICE and related federal agents in January 2026, with outlets citing deployments in the range of roughly 2,000–3,000 officers for that metro area [1][2]. However, available sources do not supply a complete national breakdown or an authoritative “percentage of total ICE agents” sent to each city, so any precise percentage attribution cannot be robustly calculated from the provided reporting [3].
1. Minneapolis–St. Paul: the site reporters call the biggest single surge
Multiple major outlets describe Minneapolis–St. Paul as the locus of the largest concentrated operation in January 2026, reporting local surges of federal agents and calling it the administration’s most visible operation; PBS reported “2,000 federal agents sent to Minneapolis area” and described it as the agency’s largest-ever operation in local scope [1][4], while some aggregators and data sites reported figures up to “approximately 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents” in the Twin Cities [2]. Local reporting by The New York Times and The Washington Post documented daily saturation of ICE activity across neighborhoods and airports, reinforcing the narrative that the Twin Cities received the most intensive deployment in recent weeks [5][6].
2. Conflicting counts and the problem of percentages
The sources disagree on absolute counts—some cite roughly 2,000 agents, others as many as 3,000 or refer to “about 2,000” or “approximately 3,000” depending on whether Border Patrol, HSI and National Guard support are included [1][2][7]. There is no source in the provided set that gives a definitive national total of deployed ICE agents for the same time window against which a city’s share could be expressed as a percentage; while officials and advocates mention plans to expand ICE ranks by thousands, no vetted distribution table appears in these stories [3][4]. Because of that absence, a credible percentage (city share of total deployed ICE force) cannot be derived solely from the supplied reporting [3][1].
3. Why Minneapolis drew a disproportionate spotlight
Reporting suggests political and operational factors that made Minneapolis a focal point: the administration signaled special emphasis on fraud and on Somali-American communities in Minnesota, local incidents including the fatal shooting of Renée Good amplified federal attention and media coverage, and lawsuits and political pushback underscored how concentrated the operation felt in that metro area [8][9][6]. Journalists and advocacy groups described tangible community impacts—business closures, increased sightings, and checkpoints at the airport—which together made the Twin Cities’ deployment read as the biggest in scale and immediate effect [8][5][1].
4. Alternative views and hidden agendas to weigh
Sources tied to government statements frame deployments as targeting fraud and criminal networks and describe them as necessary enforcement actions [7]. Civil liberties groups and local officials portray the same deployments as sweeping, indiscriminate, and politically motivated, citing surveillance tools and expanded authority over previously “off-limits” places [10][11]. Some aggregated or secondary sites amplify higher counts (e.g., 3,000) that are not universally corroborated, which may reflect rounding, inclusion of non-ICE personnel, or partisan framing [2][7]. Reporters’ focus on Minneapolis may also reflect editorial selection bias driven by dramatic local incidents and legal fights that attracted national attention [9][12].
5. Bottom line: biggest city and the percentage gap
All sourced reporting converges on Minneapolis–St. Paul as the single city/metro receiving the most intensive, highly publicized ICE and federal-enforcement deployment in January 2026, with reported counts commonly cited around 2,000 and sometimes as high as 3,000 agents in that operation [1][2]. But none of the provided sources gives the total national number of deployed agents in the same timeframe broken down by city, so it is not possible from these materials to state the “biggest percentage” (city share) of ICE agents sent to any city with statistical confidence; that calculation would require an authoritative national deployment figure and a verified city-level allocation that these reports do not supply [3][1].