ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Center for Victims of Torture™ (CVT) has issued a new human rights report providing a global perspective from asylum seekers and refugees on the impacts of Operation Metro Surge and Operation PARRIS in Minnesota in early 2026.

The new report, “When Fear Returns: The Impact of Operation Metro Surge Human Rights Abuses on People Seeking Asylum in Minnesota,” shares findings on the range of impacts on clients seen at CVT’s Minnesota clinics during the brutal surge of federal immigration agents in early 2026. The report emphasizes the voices of CVT clients, almost all of whom fled their homes after surviving torture and other serious human rights violations in their countries of origin. The report illustrates that for people whose lives had previously been so deeply marked by persecution, the militarized surge brought back a painful and significant recognition of state violence, this time in a place to which they had escaped from those very types of threats.

The report was written by Alyce Eaton, program evaluator, Dr. Shannon Golden, evaluation and research lead, Sarah Lawrence, program evaluator, and Dr. Florencia Montal, former senior evaluator and researcher, with data collected from interviews with 19 clients, aged 21 to 61 years. The authors note that this is a unique immigrant population, as all had experienced state violence in their home countries, only to be again targeted and forced into hiding from U.S. federal forces.

Alyce Eaton said, “For these clients, Operation Metro Surge brought up intense fear and reminded them of the contexts they fled. As one client said, “It is exactly what happened to us back then.’” For many clients, the harms they had previously survived made the experience in Minnesota all the more painful. “Our clients’ fears were in no way abstract,” Eaton said. “Seeing the violence of the ICE surge, and experiencing the very real fear of being taken, was intensified by the additional threat of being returned to the place they fled for their lives.”

The authors noted that during the ICE surge, for these clients, fear was “a pervasive condition that shaped daily life during the surge, extending well beyond specific encounters with immigration agents.” Fear of the violence and fear of being sent back to a dangerous country of origin blended with a very real sense of loss.

“All of these people are here in the U.S. after having already lost one homeland,” said Sarah Lawrence. “It’s another blow entirely to lose the hope they held that this would be a safe place where they could build a new life. For some that loss was as significant as the very real impacts of the surge itself.”

In addition to documenting impacts on clients’ lives, mental health, and social and civic engagement, the researchers also interviewed several CVT therapists, social workers, health workers and advocates to gain context and clinical insights. They noted that during the surge, clients from differing stages of recovery experienced regression that included heightened anxiety, sleep disruptions, emotional dysregulation and diminished day-to-day functioning.

Clients also spoke about the need for healing, for resolution on their legal status, and for an end to the violent and chaotic immigration actions. When they spoke about the need for justice, they called for due process, humane treatment, accountability and reforms that will ensure this kind of surge is never repeated. One client said, “At the end of the day, wherever you’re living, everyone on Earth, we just want peace.”

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The Center for Victims of Torture is a nonprofit organization with offices in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Uganda, United States and additional project sites around the world. Visit www.cvt.org