Trump administration border czar Tom Homan announced Thursday morning that the federal immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota would be ending.
The enforcement action in the Twin Cities lasted more than a month and brought protests and the deaths of two American citizens. Homan said that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s operation was successful and that’s why the federal presence was winding down.
“Our work here with state and local officials to improve coordination and achieve mutual goals, as well as our efforts to address issues of concern here on the ground, have yielded the successful results we came here for,” Homan said. “The Twin Cities, Minnesota in general, are and will continue to be much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump’s leadership.”
Here’s more of what he said about ICE’s activity in the state:
Homan, Trump agree to end operation in Minnesota
In a major development, Homan shared Thursday that the federal government would be ending its Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota.
He said that with the support of local leaders who have aimed to lessen the tension on the ground, coupled with ICE’s success of detaining about 4,000 undocumented immigrants, ICE agents would largely be leaving Minnesota. Homan noted that many of the detainees, but not all, were violent criminals.
“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” he said. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue to the next week.”
Homan said that there’s a “lot of work to do” across the country to remove public safety threats and to deliver on President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. Federal agents will continue to enforce immigration law throughout the country by prioritizing national security threats and public safety risks, he said.
“But I’ll continue to say over and over again, if you’re here in the country illegally, you’re not exempt from our immigration laws,” he said.
He also shared that the federal government will be conducting criminal investigations into the “agitators” in Minnesota. Homan said he’d remain in the Twin Cities for a “little longer” to oversee the withdrawal of federal agents.
Homan dispels rumors about operation
Homan, in his press conference, said he wanted to say something about the “various unfounded complaints” about ICE’s operation.
“We have not arrested anybody inside a hospital. We have not arrested anybody inside of ... an elementary school. We have not arrested anybody inside a church,” he said. “However, those locations are not off the table. I said on day one, there is no sanctuary for a significant public safety threat or national security threat.”
Homan also dispelled an idea that local leaders pushed back on, which was that the federal government was trying to use state resources in immigration enforcement. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey previously refused to help federal officers.
Under the Constitution, the federal government can’t force state or local governments to carry out federal programs like immigration enforcement. The president called out Frey for refusing to enforce the immigration laws, and Frey again said he wouldn’t give in.
Homan on Thursday insisted that the administration was not asking local law enforcement to be immigration officers.
“We’re the immigration officers. We just want them to be cops,” he said, noting that as local law enforcement was directed to cooperate with public safety during Minnesota’s demonstrations and protests, things improved on the ground.
He said it was worth noting that in all of his meetings since arriving in Minnesota, not one official or member of the business or faith communities has discredited ICE as an illegitimate agency that doesn’t have a real mission.
“We’re not out scouring the streets to disappear people or deny people their civil rights or due process,” Homan said.
Homan worked with Walz to turn down temperature
Homan was deployed to Minnesota at the direction of Trump late in January after tensions flared on the ground when 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by Border Patrol agents, making him the second U.S. citizen killed in the operation after 37-year-old Renee Good was killed by an ICE officer.
Former acting Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, who led operations in other cities last year, was the early face of the raids and action in Minneapolis. He was removed from his post and returned to El Centro, California. Some of his Border Patrol agents left the state, too.
Homan noted upon his arrival, that they weren’t abandoning the original mission, but they wanted to turn down the temperature in the state. He said Thursday they were successful, with the help of local leaders like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
“While I don’t agree with Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellis on everything, we appreciate the support the governor gives to state agencies who cooperate with us in a manner intended to promote public safety,” he said.
In his original press conference upon arriving in Minnesota, Homan noted that he wasn’t sent to the state because the administration was implementing its operation perfectly. He reiterated this on Thursday and said he came to identify issues, make personnel changes and improve the agency’s work, including by having ICE officers wear body cameras, which they previously were not doing.
“President Trump also deployed me here to work with state and local officials to deescalate the intense, volatile reactions and conflicts that have unfolded on the streets here between federal law enforcement and unlawful agitators,” he said, later adding, “We don’t want to see any more bloodshed.”
He thanked Frey, Walz and other local leaders for their cooperation as they all wanted to turn the temperature down with protesters angry over ICE activity.
“We’ve seen a big change here in the last couple weeks, and it’s all good changes,” Homan said.
In a press conference Thursday following Homan’s, Walz said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the surge ending.
“This surge of untrained, aggressive federal agents are going to leave Minnesota and I guess they’ll go wherever they’re going to go, but the fact of the matter is, they left us with deep damage, generational trauma. They left with economic ruin. In some cases, they left us with many unanswered questions,” he said.
Walz called for more transparency into the investigations into Pretti and Good’s deaths, and said state leaders will continue to clean up the mess in the upcoming legislative session. He called on Minnesota’s members of Congress and the Trump administration to provide assistance as well.
“I’m not going to hold my breath that the federal government is going to do the right thing,” Walz said. “What I am going to do is, I’m going to bet on the people of this state.”