On his way back from the gym, third-year University of Minnesota student Mascuud Ali turned the corner onto the street of his Hopkins apartment and found the whole block surrounded by federal agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unable to make it any farther, Ali stared on from the sidewalk as more than 10 law enforcement vehicles lined the streets. He could not get home for seven hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now every time he goes home to his neighborhood, where a large Somali population resides, he has to make sure it’s safe to do so first. He checks his neighborhood group chats and scans the ICE watch platforms, which monitor reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, on his phone to see if federal agents are nearby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’ve also had to carry my passport at all times,\u201d Ali said. \u201cIt’s very unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ali, like many other students who faced challenges during Operation Metro Surge, had to carry on with his life and keep up with his studies. Many sought guidance from the university on a range of issues, asking questions about how to stay safe, how to seek mental health help and how to support students with immigration concerns. Some students just wanted events to bring the campus together at a time when the city seemed under siege. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But aside from a \u201crapid response\u201d page with general safety guidelines and a mandate requiring U-Card access to all campus buildings, the university did little, opting to stay neutral and generally quiet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many students found the university\u2019s response insufficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe university might not necessarily have the resources to immediately support us, but there wasn’t much of an effort to find those resources either,\u201d said Anja Waage, a first-year music student at the university. \u201cThey just sent out one email being like, \u2018Hey, we’re here to support you,\u2019 and never even directly addressed in what \u2014 they didn’t address Operation Metro Surge.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar concerns were reflected in a March survey<\/a>, conducted by AccessU: Upended, that captured the first snapshot of university undergraduate students\u2019 experiences during the federal immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis, as well as their opinions on the university\u2019s response to the surge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The majority of these students said they were dissatisfied with the university\u2019s response and also expressed a desire for clearer communication regarding their safety concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Roughly half of the respondents said the university failed to prioritize student safety during the surge. Only 28% said their safety had been prioritized. Similarly, nearly half of the respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the university communicated and executed clear safety plans. Nearly a quarter of respondents agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AccessU: Upended reporters also interviewed survey respondents who left their names and contact information. Many of those echoed the concerns and explained their views regarding university inaction, saying protocols around classroom modality were confusing, and they had to change daily routines and campus travel routes to avoid possibly running into ICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked to comment on the findings of the survey, the university responded in a statement: \u201cThe University\u2019s top priority is always the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, staff and visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making campus a sanctuary <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the survey, 68% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the university should have declared itself a sanctuary campus. Although the university stated it was committed to prioritizing the safety of its students, faculty and staff, no declaration of sanctuary status was made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Linus Chan, clinical professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School and the faculty director of the Detainee Rights Clinic, said the term \u201csanctuary campus\u201d has a symbolic meaning that is usually used to illustrate a university’s commitment to prioritizing student safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere’s no such thing as a sanctuary campus. That\u2019s not an actual legal term,\u201d Chan said. \u201cUsually, when people say sanctuary city or sanctuary campus, what they’re really talking about is whether the institution, in this case the university, will willingly cooperate with immigration enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chan said the university was put in a tough position because declaring itself a sanctuary campus could have put federal funding for itself in jeopardy. Still, Chan said, he believed the administration’s response lacked depth and left much up for interpretation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey could have made things clearer,\u201d Chan said. \u201cOther universities did more than just say, \u2018We are not gonna cooperate.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although students recognized that the university put safeguards in place for students worried about ICE, many said the university’s language fell short of conveying a sense of solidarity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the University of Minnesota is one of many higher education institutions that have not declared themselves a sanctuary campus, a handful around the country have adopted the symbol of solidarity with students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Department of Homeland Security initiated Operation Black Rose in Portland, Oregon, in September 2025, an operation that lasted into 2026. The enforcement with over 1,100 people detained across the state, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported<\/a>. Portland State University (PSU), located in the city’s downtown, has been a sanctuary campus since 2016. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile there is no established definition of a \u2018sanctuary campus,\u2019 at PSU we view it as a commitment to take whatever steps we can to protect all of our students regardless of immigration status,\u201d the PSU Office of General Counsel said on its website<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n PSU\u2019s main tenets of its self-described sanctuary status include a policy that campus police won\u2019t assist ICE and the university won\u2019t provide ICE information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From defiance to compliance <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the years before Operation Metro Surge and during the ongoing tensions surrounding immigration under the first Trump administration, the University of Minnesota was more vocal about its commitment to immigrant and international students\u2019 safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a 2017 State of the University<\/a> address following a Trump administration executive order on immigration, then-President Eric Kaler said the university and its community had a responsibility to support and protect its immigrant and undocumented students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That same year, the university created an Immigration Response Team to support students and faculty affected by federal visa restrictions. The Young Democratic Socialists of America at the university are currently petitioning<\/a> to revive that now-defunct response team as a part of their demand for a sanctuary campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, the university joined a list of nearly 60 universities filing amicus briefs<\/a> supporting a lawsuit that challenged new ICE restrictions on visas for international students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe cannot stand by in good conscience as international students are forced out of the country through no fault of their own,\u201d said then-President Joan Gabel in a university news release<\/a>. \u201cWe stand with our international students, and international students across the country, in asking that the ICE directive be overturned immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n