Eviction filings in Minnesota were down during ICE surge. Now they're ahead of 2025's record pace

MINNEAPOLIS - The stress blocks Rosa Maria from sleeping, and she has lost some of her hair.

She and her family came to Minnesota three years ago from Mexico on her husband's work visa. But after he was detained in January by ICE and released 15 days later, the couple stopped working and went into hiding with their three kids.

With no income, they fell behind on the rent and other payments for their Ramsey County apartment and faced eviction. Even after moving out, the family has been taken to eviction court and faces thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and fees.

A quarter of the way through 2026, eviction filings in Minnesota are outpacing 2025, the highest year for filings on record, according to data from HOME Line, which provides free legal advice for renters. Housing advocates have centered the blame on fallout from Operation Metro Surge and continued economic challenges.

Not all eviction filings result in a tenant's displacement, but filings are used as a measurement of instability because they are public and can effect a tenant's ability to find a new place to live. Evictions also often happen informally, outside courtrooms.

Displacement can spell disaster for families. Although Rosa Maria has already found a new home, the eviction filing could loom over their future housing opportunities. And they are unsure how they can pay what their former landlord wants to recoup.

"I definitely feel super stressed," Rosa Maria, 39, said in a translated interview at her apartment. The Minnesota Star Tribune is not fully identifying Rosa Maria because she fears retaliation.

Research has shown that eviction is associated with increases in mental and physical conditions and childhood hunger; disruptions in health care access; and reduced high school graduation rates.

Earlier this year, during the height of President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown in Minnesota, the public raised millions of dollars to help immigrant families pay rent as many became too scared to leave their homes. Municipalities also designated funding for rental assistance. That kept the pace of filings below that of 2025.

But advocates say fundraising began drying up in March.

By the end of the first quarter of 2026, about 6,400 eviction filings were made statewide, up slightly from last year.

In Minneapolis, where much of Operation Metro Surge was focused, filings climbed sharply between January and March, surpassing last year's rate of eviction filings in the city.

And statewide through mid-April, eviction filings are still above 2025's record pace, according to HOME Line.

"Across the board it really demonstrates that filings would be higher pretty much in any of these communities without mutual aid, particularly in Minneapolis and St. Paul," said Eric Hauge, the co-executive director of HOME Line.

Housing advocates have been pressuring state lawmakers all year for more emergency rental assistance, and one author of a bill that would allocate another $40 million in aid is optimistic about it getting signed into law.

DFL State Sen. Lindsey Port's legislation would also temporarily extend the time period for tenants to pay delinquent rent from 14 to 30 days statewide. The bill passed the Minnesota Senate in March but has stalled in the House, where DFLers shares power with Republicans.

Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth did not return a request for comment, but Port said, "we're having really good conversation in the House. I think there's a really good chance some rental assistance will get through."

Minneapolis and St. Paul have approved a combined $5.22 million in additional emergency rental assistance, but the scale of the problem in the wake of Operation Metro Surge appears to be much larger.

In 2025 there was an average monthly rent debt among low-income households of $22.3 million in Minnesota, according to the University of Minnesota's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs. The center estimated in February that an additional $27.4 million to $51.3 million in rent debt came as a result of Operation Metro Surge.

Jennifer Arnold, executive director of the tenant organizing group Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia, said evictions are already structurally high in Minnesota because rents and inflation have risen in recent years.

Port argued that rental assistance has already been underfunded in Minnesota. Ultimately, keeping people in their homes is to everyone's advantage, she said. It is more expensive for the state to provide services for residents after they become unhoused.

"Mutual aid did a really important role, but now it's time for the Legislature to do its job," Port said. "We really have a responsibility to step in."

Some things have worked out for Rosa Maria since the move. Her kids did not have to change schools, their new home does not have a rodent problem and they are current on their rent there.

Both parents are back at work, and a new work visa for Rosa Maria's husband is pending.

But the eviction case hangs over their head, and they still rarely leave home out of fear. The younger two of her children have trouble understanding.

"The younger ones, it's a little bit harder to explain and for them to grasp the difficulty of the situation," she said. "We feel really bad, really sad."

Arnold, the tenant organizer, estimated that mutual aid efforts have raised around $20 million in rental assistance this year. But the funds are not so easy to find now. She recalled giving a man in need of financial help a referral for resources, but 10 days later, he was still waiting for a response.

"There's fewer resources," Arnold said.

Rosa Maria and her family have not benefited from any financial assistance.

She does not know what exactly will come next, but when asked if she thinks her family will return to the happier times before Operation Metro Surge – when life felt good and her kids were hitting all their goals – she smiled and said, "Yes." They've navigated tough times before.

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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 4:16 AM.