These are the arrests you’re not seeing
by Madison McVan, Daily Montanan
January 16, 2026
A man shelters alone under the heaters of a south Minneapolis bus stop on a cold January morning, the hood of a grey sweatshirt pulled over his thick dark hair. He unzips his black outer coat and looks down, apparently searching for something tucked into the other layers of clothing.
He doesn’t see the SUV pulling up, or the masked ICE agent exiting the passenger side door.
The man turns around and looks at the federal agent as he approaches the bus shelter. The three glass walls surround him, and the agent stands on the open side, a full head taller than the man in the grey hoodie.
The man takes a small step back. The agent takes a step forward.
The man and the agent pass something back and forth; then, the man produces a small square of printer paper from his pocket and unfolds it. The two look at the paper.
Then, they walk together to the car. The agent opens the door to the backseat, and the man climbs in, unrestrained.
Across the Twin Cities, journalists, activists and influencers have taken to the streets to document the actions of the thousands of immigration agents that have flooded the state. Photographers have documented violent arrests, and livestreamers have broadcast clashes between protesters and agents, painting an authentic and repetitive scene of federal actions in Minnesota.
But an untold number of immigrants, like the man in the bus shelter, have been arrested without the whistles and cameras — plucked out of their lives in an instant.
“Moments like this ultimately and quietly change how safe people, including myself, feel in their own neighborhoods,” said Garrett Guntly, whose home security camera captured the arrest.
Many immigrants in the Twin Cities are opting to shelter in place, or work from home if possible, given the number of immigration agents on the streets. ICE and Border Patrol agents are not only carrying out targeted raids, but also scanning the streets for people who may be immigrants, then asking those people to provide documentation; NPR captured video of agents approaching people of color charging their electric cars and asking each one to provide proof of legal residency.
A lawsuit filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges immigration authorities are racially profiling Minnesota residents and detaining people with legal status, including citizens.
Minnesota residents who oppose the immigration agenda of President Donald Trump have joined group chats with their neighbors so they can respond quickly to reports of ICE operations. But with the surge in federal officers arriving in the Twin Cities, ICE arrests have become quicker as agents avoid drawing a crowd.
At the bus stop, for instance, less than five minutes passed between the time the agent got out of the vehicle and when the man got in the backseat.
Immigration officials say they have arrested at least 2,400 people since “Operation Metro Surge” began in December, according to NBC News. Deportation flights leaving MSP have increased from one or two per week in the summer of 2025 to two per day over the past week, according to Nick Benson, an anti-ICE activist who tracks deportation flights.
“There are a number of people that are stuck at home, that fear for their lives because of what’s happening right now,” said Luis Argueta Jr., communications director for the immigrant rights organization Unidos MN.
Patrollers keeping eyes out for ICE have been monitoring immigrant-dense neighborhoods for signs of ICE activity. They film and protest the agents, and warn those nearby of immigration agents’ presence. Many have been stationing themselves around the clock at Mercado Central, which is home to dozens of Latino-owned businesses, hoping to make the workers and customers feel safe enough to do business.
When Argueta stopped at Mercado Central for lunch over the weekend, a business owner who knew him asked for help. She brought him upstairs, where Argueta saw two boys — one apparently about middle-school age and a young high-schooler — shaking and crying.
The brothers had been sheltering at home with their mother since the latest immigration enforcement surge began, but they were due for haircuts and were sick of being inside, Argueta said.
Their mother dropped them off at Mercado Central with some money to get haircuts while she walked a short distance to cash a check, Argueta said.
She never came back.
Even though Argueta works at an organization that is tracking ICE arrests, he hasn’t been able to figure out what happened to the mother. Her children didn’t know her birth date, he said, and they would have to track that down before they could look her up in the database of immigrants in detention. Eventually, Argueta and others helped the brothers find the phone number for an aunt, who came to pick them up, with a bunch of other family members in tow.
Argueta has heard stories of arrests over and over. But he can’t get the two boys out of his head.
“It was really tough to hear them talking and asking them questions that I would never imagine asking my own kids to answer,” Argueta said. “I just kept thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I’m asking them to grow up a little bit here and answer some really big, grown up questions.’”
It’s impossible to know how many other Minnesota children are left in similar situations when their parents are taken without warning.
Guntly, who recorded the video of the man apparently arrested by ICE at the bus stop, said he is encouraging more Minnesota residents to monitor public spaces in order to capture more of these quiet arrests.
The cameras capture other moments, too: his immigrant neighbors sprinting home from the bus stop, or hiding around the corner until they see the bus coming, while the heaters warm the empty shelter.
This story was originally produced by Minnesota Reformer, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Daily Montanan, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com.
