Our support
Center of the American Experiment remains unapologetically supportive of Operation Metro Surge. The mission of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) effort has been to locate, apprehend, and deport those illegal aliens residing in Minnesota, prioritizing those with a criminal history. This is not an extreme view. In fact, as of January 2025, Axios polling showed 66% of Americans supported deporting those here illegally, while New York Times polling showed 87% of Americans supported deporting those with criminal records.
Minnesotans are a fickle group, however, making DHS’s margin for error in Minnesota razor thin. Our left-leaning politics and our media spin have been in hyper drive trying to derail the operation, making it critical for DHS to avoid unforced errors if it wants to succeed.
The error
One of those unforced errors played out this week and requires a robust DHS response.
According to media reporting and DHS press releases, DHS agents went to a home in St. Paul last Sunday afternoon looking for two Hmong men who had received final orders of deportation years earlier. It’s unclear what information the agents were relying upon to give them cause to believe the two men resided in the home or were present at that time.
The men were later identified by DHS via wanted posters as Lue Moua and Kongmeng Vang. Undated photos with no additional descriptive information or dates of birth accompanied the releases.
Prior to approaching the home, agents observed a Hmong man leave the home and drive away in a car that registered to a man with the first name Lue. Agents stopped the man and released him after determining he was not one of the men they were looking for.
Agents then went to the home and knocked. The residents refused to open the door, and agents eventually forcibly breached the door and detained the residents. An adult male named ChongLy “Scott” Thao, his daughter in law, and his four-year-old grandson were present. The man who had been stopped by agents just prior was Thao’s adult son.
Thao and the DHS have given conflicting accounts regarding whether the agents had a warrant to enter, and whether Thao identified himself to agents in the residence. (Recent legal guidance from the DHS to its agents supports their reliance on Final Orders for Deportation as a valid warrant that allows agents to enter a home, similar to an arrest warrant signed by a judge in a criminal case. That interpretation has yet to be tested in court).
Video on social media shows protestors converging on the scene shortly after the agents entered. Agents then walked Thao out to an agent vehicle, partially covered in a blanket, and drove him away from the area where they photographed him, fully identified him, and determined he was not one of the men they were looking for. They then returned him to the home, about an hour later, according to Thao.
Thoa is reportedly an American citizen who has resided legally in the US for decades. He and his family rent the home where agents came to and has told the media his family does not know either Moua or Vang.
Many have expressed concern with DHS’s actions involving Thao, and the DHS has stood firm that their search was justified as they looked for Moua and Vang. Then a damaging report surfaced last evening. Moua has been in the custody of the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) since September 2024. Worse yet, the DHS had served a detainer request on the DOC for MOUA, indicating its knowledge of Moua’s whereabouts. This lack of coordination represents an error that the DHS cannot afford to make in Minnesota.
The fix
This error undermines the integrity of Operation Metro Surge. Some will use this example to call for an end to of the operation. While it was a significant gaff, it is correctable and does not eclipse the vital importance of our nation’s deportation effort.
DHS officials must address this mistake publicly, put safeguards in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and get back to its mission.
