Inside The Star Tribune’s coverage of the Minneapolis immigration raids

Publisher and CEO Steve Grove shares how the paper balanced aggressive reporting with care for journalists covering a deeply personal story

One of the biggest news stories of 2026 has been the immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, and the protests that have gone along with those operations. Some 4,000 federal agents descended on the Twin Cities back in January, sparking a story that gathered massive national attention.

The story tragically gained even more attention on Jan. 7 when Renee Good, a poet and mother of three, was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Two weeks later, an ICU nurse named Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.

As I said, this was a huge national story.

But it was also a really big local story for the people of Minnesota and the Twin Cities and, in particular, Minneapolis.