The 2025 fall semester was almost like any other. I spent it running between classes, editing multimedia projects, squeezing volunteer hours in between activities and getting dreadfully little sleep.

Late in the semester, Minnesota received more national attention thanks to fraud allegations targeting Twin Cities communities (the subject of my final column of the semester). While there was lots of media attention, it was initially more talk than action, and I still looked forward to what the Spring semester would bring.

I don’t think I or anyone else in the Twin Cities appreciated just how much our lives were going to change in just a few months as Operation Metro Surge escalated.

Even for those who weren’t targeted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, the fear and hypervigilance that filled our city were indescribable. While the ICE surge may have slowed, those feelings are hard to forget.

University of Minnesota sociology emeritus professor Joachim Savelsberg said while the memories of what happened during Metro Surge are fresh now, how we address and preserve these memories going forward will determine whether we can process the event in a productive way while keeping the memories alive. 

“Memory, collective memory and cultural consequences don’t just happen, they are being made,” Savelsberg said. “There is certainly today still strong sentiment of various horrors that occurred, primarily the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the question is how long they will last.”

Changes made because of the fear caused by Metro Surge, from University building U Card requirements to what safety equipment journalists at the Daily have access to, still persist. It is impossible to put this genie back in the metaphorical bottle.

Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley said local leaders at different levels must come together to determine what mental health programs or funding may help mitigate the psychological impact of Metro Surge.

“The broader psychological impacts and how we really hold that in a restorative and trauma-informed way, I think that’s going to require a number of other partners to come to the table at the local and state levels,” Wonsley said.

It’s hard to fully describe the feeling of being in the Twin Cities during Operation Metro Surge. Though I was not directly threatened by ICE’s presence, I was afraid for my friends, coworkers, neighbors and teachers, and I saw firsthand just how much the situation weighed on everyone in the area.

Wonsley said beyond the fear generated by ICE presence in the Twin Cities, the economic effects of Metro Surge also caused significant mental distress, which is why she is focused on programs to help stabilize the material conditions of local residents.

“We know when people’s everyday conditions like their housing, their ability to access food, their ability to earn a living, when those things are interrupted or completely eliminated, people’s mental health immediately is impacted,” Wonsley said. “It takes a downward spiral in many ways.”

It’s important to remember that many of our neighbors faced significant material losses during Operation Metro Surge. The City of Minneapolis impact assessment detailed that the city lost more than $700 million because of the surge, largely in business revenue, lost wages and increased need for rent assistance.

That number has real human effects for small business owners who may have to close their shops or families evicted because of back rent they can’t catch up on. The end of Metro Surge didn’t immediately fix these problems, as people across the Twin Cities are now trying desperately to make up for lost time.

Savelsberg said finding ways to highlight local minority businesses and support them is important, as these businesses were still recovering from events prior to the immigration enforcement surge.

“There were the riots after (the death of) George Floyd that destroyed many minority businesses, which was really the tragic event of that violence six years ago,” Savelsberg said. “And then, five and a half years later, this happens, so it’s cumulative, and that too needs to be borne in mind.”

Despite all of the surge’s negative impacts, it also gave our community a chance to demonstrate our loyalty to our neighbors and our ability to unite around a common cause, a trial we passed with flying colors.

Wonsley said it’s important to remember the community action and resistance we saw is continuing on a multitude of fronts, as our community’s behavior during Metro Surge has inspired continued action from mutual aid to politics.

“We’ve seen a significant number of residents see elections as a vehicle to continue that energy and that community building,” Wonsley said.

Savelsberg said memorials to people like Good and Pretti, as well as events at those sites, could help pull collective memory into a more positive sphere without inciting negative feelings like vengeance.

“I think those things are necessary to keep the memory, and with it, the cultural effects of the surge alive and pull them in a positive direction,” Savelsberg said.

There’s no denying that Operation Metro Surge has impacted the Twin Cities in ways that we don’t fully understand yet. While many of our neighbors still struggle with the surge’s aftershocks, we also see the kindness that arose from the surge continue, and we must appreciate that.

After all, we even won a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for our actions during the surge, all through the quintessentially Minnesotan act of being good neighbors. 

The choice to continue countering the long-term effects of Metro Surge is up to us.