Operation Metro Surge cost Minnesota 32,000 jobs, a new study found.

The job losses followed the immigration crackdown between December and February, which included about 4,000 arrests, according to the report by the Minnesota Budget Project and the Immigration Research Initiative. It’s the latest report showing the economic harm caused to the state and Twin Cities by the surge.

“The stark decline in employment” disproportionately affected U.S.-born employees but also documented asylum seekers and those with work visas, as well as undocumented workers, said Carly Eckstrom, deputy director of the Minnesota Budget Project.

During the height of the immigration action, many workers were afraid to go to work or shop, causing financial strain, or even closure, for many businesses.

President Donald Trump’s administration said the crackdown was necessary. Mayors and economists say it came at a cost.

More than 13 cities in the metro reported a collective $700 million loss in wages and revenue and extra security costs.

New reports suggest the final financial toll will be higher. Some workers and customers have yet to return, even after the drawdown of federal immigration officers from the state. Several business owners told the Star Tribune that immigrant workers left the state.

Many businesses have not caught up with overdue rents and supply bills, according to officials with the Metropolitan Council and the Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers.

The Minnesota Budget Project and the Immigration Research Initiative report found 7,000 fewer immigrants are employed than would have been without the surge, even though they were not arrested. Meanwhile, the employment level for U.S.-born workers is 25,000 lower than it would have been.

The left-leaning North Star Policy Action separately reported Tuesday that Minnesota lost 5,100 leisure and hospitality jobs from December 2025 to March 2026 because of Operation Metro Surge.

That was the steepest decline of any state, said North Star research director Aaron Rosenthal.

Immigration Research Initiative Director David Dyssegaard Kallick said the findings show policies favoring mass arrests shrink the economy and hurt U.S. workers.

The report references estimates by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which found an estimated 129,000 undocumented workers paid $222 million in state and local taxes in 2022.

By latest count, Minnesota is home to 495,000 immigrants, of which about 295,000 are U.S. citizens.

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