BALDWIN, WISCONSIN — Federal immigration agents arrested more than 50 people in Baldwin, Wisconsin, during January and February as part of enforcement operations in rural western Wisconsin. The operations removed dozens of people from smaller towns in the region, following earlier enforcement actions in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.

Baldwin, a town of about 4,000 people located directly off a highway, was among the areas where agents targeted mobile homes, apartment buildings, ethnic restaurants, grocery stores, and roads used by commuters traveling between towns. Agents also arrested immigrants in the nearby communities of Hudson and River Falls. Federal agents stayed in hotels in St. Croix County during the operations.

Immigration agents began making apprehensions near a large home improvement store around Thanksgiving. The apprehensions increased in December and expanded further from the Twin Cities. Residents in the Minneapolis metropolitan area had protested enforcement operations by marching in the streets and following agents in their vehicles. Enforcement operations in Minneapolis decreased before resuming in western Wisconsin, where fewer people protested during the peak of the operations compared to larger cities.

A Mexican restaurant in St. Croix County where multiple workers were taken by federal agents in February remains closed. Agents also arrested people at a travel plaza near the restaurant. An Ecuadorian market in a nearby town was targeted by immigration agents and has since reopened with a sign on the door telling visitors to ring the bell before entering.

A man identified as J, who came to the United States from Venezuela in 2023, said his wife was taken by federal agents while driving near their home in St. Croix County in February. J said, "The United States is the American dream, that's what they call it. But no, it wasn't like that."

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, "Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in Minnesota and Wisconsin to keep Americans safe. ICE agents uphold our nation's immigration laws in all 50 states, seven days a week, 24 hours a day."

Mutual aid networks have formed in response, providing groceries and supplies to families who have had members deported and giving rides to people who fear being detained. Jenelle Ludwig Krause, an organizer of Safe Neighbors, said, "I also feel like what has happened in Baldwin is happening in a lot of other towns and is about to happen in thousands and thousands of more towns, and we just have to find pathways to protect ourselves and take care of each other."

Baldwin's population is over 95 percent white according to the most recent census. Western Wisconsin leans Republican politically, although some municipalities shifted toward the Democratic Party during the Trump era.