New Delhi: The video from Maple Grove, Minnesota, is shaky but clear. Inside a Walmart, amid the bright lights and bargain bins, a man is pinned to the ground by federal agents. Shoppers watch, frozen. This isn’t a scene from a border crossing or a high-stakes raid on a criminal compound. It’s a Saturday evening grocery run.

As 2026 begins, the landscape of immigration in America has shifted fundamentally. The Trump administration’s enforcement machinery is no longer operating on the fringes; it has moved into the center of daily life. From the aisles of retail stores to the quiet waiting rooms of government offices, the message being sent is unmistakable: for immigrant communities, no space is safe.

A Surge Like Never Before

The numbers tell a story of rapid escalation. In what officials are calling the largest single operation of its kind, approximately 2,000 federal agents have descended on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. What was pitched as a crackdown on fraud in childcare centers has morphed into a dragnet that has swept up hundreds. By late 2025, over 2,000 immigration arrests were recorded in Minnesota alone.

But the crackdown isn’t just local. Nationwide, the detention system is overburdened.

• 68,000 people are currently in ICE detention, nearly triple the historical norm.
• 75% of them have no........

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