Minnesota immigration enforcement surge is ending, Trump border tsar says
The US immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota will end, President Donald Trump’s border tsar told reporters on Thursday.
Tom Homan said Trump had approved his request to conclude the operation, adding he would stay in Minnesota “a little longer to oversee the drawdown, to ensure its success”.
Homan said Operation Metro Surge had resulted in many illegal immigrants who had committed violent crimes being detained for deportation. But the surge also sparked nationwide protests when two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by immigration officers.
After the news conference, top Minnesota and federal officials appeared at a Capitol Hill hearing on Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Officials in Minnesota have been able to “greatly reduce the number of targets” for immigration enforcement, Homan said, adding that Operation Metro Surge was a “great success”.
More than 4,000 undocumented immigrants had been arrested, according to Homan, including men he said were convicted of rape and other sexual misconduct.
Homan said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has always had a presence in Minnesota and will continue to have one.
The reduction in force comes after what Homan described as an unprecedented level of cooperation between federal agents and local law enforcement. He said Minneapolis law enforcement has increased their crackdown on protesters he called public safety threats, and local jails have been more willing to notify ICE of the release date for individuals the agency was targeting.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said at a news conference following Homan’s announcement that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the drawdown of federal agents.
“The fact of the matter is they left us with deep damage, generational trauma,” Walz said. “They left us with economic ruin in some cases. They left us with many unanswered questions.”
The governor is expected to soon propose a $10m (£7m) emergency fund for small businesses who say they were financially hurt by the surge.
Following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti last month, President Donald Trump dispatched Homan to Minneapolis to oversee the surge, sidelining the operation’s leader, Greg Bovino, who had faced intense criticism for ICE’s use of force and what many in the city alleged were civil rights violations.
Trump’s immigration crackdown has faced resistance in Democrat-led cities like Minneapolis from activists in the streets and local officials and immigrants in the courts. The administration last month finished removing National Guard troops from Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago – places where there had been large protests against the presence of troops and immigration agents – according to US Northern Command.
Some Republicans, too, had questioned the Minneapolis operation.
Senator Rand Paul told a committee hearing with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials on Thursday that “saying we’re going to reduce this presence in the street is a good sign and a good step forward”.
“I’m glad that’s happening,” the Republican from Kentucky said. “I think that is de-escalation.”
The fight over how immigration agents operate has now put the federal government at risk of a partial shutdown as Congress debates a funding measure for the DHS, which includes ICE.
Democrats are demanding changes in ICE – such as ending the wearing of masks – in exchange for support for the bill. They are also pushing for immigration agents in Minnesota and elsewhere to be required to reveal their identities and to end warrant-less searches.
Last week, Homan announced he was removing 700 immigration agents from the state, leaving around 2,000 federal officers there, and working to cut their presence to where it was before the operation started in December. He also said he was working to ensure federal officers have body-worn cameras.
On Thursday, he said Minnesota has become “less of a sanctuary state”, adding that he had meetings over the last few weeks with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Governor Walz, whom he asked to “tone down the rhetoric”.
Sanctuary cities and states have passed laws to limit the support they give to enforcement of federal immigration authorities.
While Homan and the Trump administration blamed escalating tensions in Minneapolis on the rhetoric from Minnesota officials, Frey and other critics of the immigration crackdown have blamed it on ICE and Customs and Border Protection.