After being deployed to Minnesota at the direction of President Donald Trump, border czar Tom Homan spoke to the media Thursday about his efforts to get state and local officials to hand over migrants in the country illegally who are arrested for a crime.
Earlier in the week he had made the administration’s case that if state leaders comply or cooperate with their requests, the “withdrawal of law enforcement” could happen.
“We’re not surrendering the president’s mission on immigration enforcement,” he said during a press conference on Monday. “Let’s make that clear.”
Homan in Minnesota
Homan on Thursday insisted that state law enforcement needs to cooperate with federal authorities.
One agent “can arrest one bad guy in the safety and security of a jail,” Homan said. But when arrests are made outside of correctional facilities, more agents are needed, he said.
“And what happens is now we’ve got to arrest somebody on his turf, who has access to who knows what weapons. Now, we’ve got to send a whole team out to cover the back door, cover the front door,” said Homan.
“More agents in the jail means less agents in the street,” Homan said. “This is common-sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it: draw down the number of people here because we have the efficiency, the safety of the jails and the prisons.”
Homan confirmed that after talking with local leaders and law enforcement, a plan to reduce the number of federal agents is in the works. Drawing back the number of agents is his “main focus” right now.
“I have staff from (Customs and Border Protection) and from (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) working on a drawdown plan. What does that look like, based on cooperation. What does that look like based on the targets we have left to find,” he said.
Homan says mission has not gone ‘perfectly’
Still, Homan acknowledged that the federal government has not carried out the immigration enforcement mission “perfectly.”
“I’m not here because the federal government has carried its mission out perfectly,” he said, adding, “I do not want to hear that everything that has been done here has been perfect.”
“I don’t want to see anybody die,” Homan said. “Not officers, not members of the community, not the targets of our operation.”
Homan was sent to Minnesota in the wake of 37-year-old Alex Pretti’s death. Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents on Saturday morning.
Pretti’s death sparked widespread outrage and a change in the Trump administration’s handling of immigration enforcement in the state.
Former acting Commander-at-large Gregory Bovino, who led operations in other cities last year and was the face of the raids and action in Minneapolis, was removed from his post and returned to El Centro, California. Some Border Patrol agents also left the state.
Trump then shared Monday that Homan would be heading to Minneapolis. Both Homan and the president have held what they say are productive talks with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
While Frey and Walz also said the conversations were a step in the right direction, they are refusing the administration’s demands to hand over individuals held in jails who entered the country illegally.
Klobuchar enters race for governor
Earlier this month, amid an alleged fraud scandal in Minnesota state politics, Walz announced that he would no longer be seeking reelection as governor next term. It shook up the gubernatorial race, leaving an open spot for a strong Democratic candidate.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., formally launched her bid to be governor after reportedly delaying her announcement due to Pretti’s death and the ongoing protests.
Klobuchar has been a senator for Minnesota since 2007. She said she loves her job in the Senate, but she loves Minnesotans and wants to serve them in the state’s top office.
In her announcement video, Klobuchar noted that the state has been through a lot, particularly with the deaths of Renee Good and Pretti and the unrest seen due to ICE, while also referencing a state lawmaker and her husband who were killed last summer.
“We cannot sugarcoat how hard this is, but in these moments of enormous difficulty, we find strength in our Minnesota values of hard work, freedom and simple decency and goodwill. These times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamps of this administration, but who are also willing to find common ground and fix things in our state,” she said.
“I am running for this job for every person who wants their work recognized and rewarded, for every Minnesotan who wants to buy their first home, for every parent who wants a better world for their kids,” she later added.
On the Republican side of the gubernatorial race, there was also a shakeup. GOP candidate Chris Madel shared a surprise video announcement on Monday that he was dropping out of the race.
“Today, I announced the end of my campaign,” he said. “I cannot support the National Republican state retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”
Madel said he originally supported ICE’s goals of its operation in Minnesota, deporting the “worst of the worst of our state.” But the operation, he said, has expanded “far beyond its stated focus.”
“At the end of the day, I have to look my daughters in the eye tell them, I believe I did what was right, and I am doing that today,” he said.
Pretti investigation initial report
New video, obtained and verified by the Minnesota Star Tribune, showed that on Jan. 13, Pretti was filmed cursing at agents and kicking out the taillights of the agents’ vehicle.
An officer jumped out of the car and tackled Pretti and other agents joined. Pretti was able to slip free and the officers retreated without bringing him into custody.
On Saturday, when he was killed, Pretti was armed and was filming the officers at the time of the altercation. Pretti was a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry in Minnesota, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said directly following his death.
After an altercation, Pretti was shot several times by Border Patrol agents, and the Department of Homeland Security’s initial report noted that two federal agents fired their guns. Pretti was pronounced dead shortly after.
Walz has demanded that there be impartial investigations into both Good and Pretti’s deaths, and said the federal government should not conduct the probe, since federal agents were responsible for their deaths.
After Pretti’s death, state officials took the unusual step to ensure the government does not cover up details about what happened. State investigators asked to work with the FBI for the investigation into Good’s death, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office restricted the investigators’ access to the case.
Now, the calls for an impartial investigation are growing and coming from both sides of the political spectrum. Several Republican lawmakers have said that an investigation into Pretti’s death needs to be fair and thorough.
According to a preliminary report from Customs and Border Patrol obtained by the Deseret News, around 9 a.m. local time on Saturday in Minneapolis, an officer was confronted by two female civilians blowing whistles. The officer ordered them to move out of the road and they refused, resulting in the officer pushing them away. One woman ran to a nearby man, later identified as Pretti. The officer tried to move both of them and was unsuccessful, so he deployed pepper spray.
Personnel tried to take Pretti into custody, but he resisted, resulting in a struggle with multiple officers. During the struggle, one Border Patrol agent repeatedly yelled, “He’s got a gun!” About five seconds later, a Border Patrol Agent deployed his issued Glock 19 and another discharged his issued Glock 47. The report stated that after the shooting was when Pretti’s gun was in Border Patrol possession.
At about 9:02 a.m., officers cut his clothing and provided medical aid by placing chest seals on his wounds until Minneapolis first responders took over. He was then transported to the hospital and pronounced dead at 9:32 a.m.