On Thursday, Feb. 12th, Border czar Tom Homan said that President Trump has agreed to conclude the federal immigration reinforcement surge in Minnesota. He also added that the number of enforcement targets in the region has been greatly reduced.
“We’ve seen a big change here in the last couple of weeks,” Homan said at a Minneapolis press conference. “All good changes.”
This announcement comes after last week, when Homan announced that 700 agents would be removed from the areas surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul, a 25% reduction that still left 2,000 officers in the area. The withdrawal will continue into the upcoming week.
Homan added that a “small footprint” of officers will stay in the area “for a period of time” to transition back to local command and to ensure “agitator activity” won’t remerge.
The conclusion of “Operation Metro Surge” was announced less than three weeks after Trump sent Homan to Minnesota to assist with deportation. This followed the unfortunate deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens who were shot fatally by federal agents in January. The killings led to increased tensions in the United States, sparking protests across the country and souring the opinion of the ICE. Homan on Thursday reported a de-escalation in those tensions, citing coordination between the federal, state and local leaders since his arrival in Minnesota.
“With that, and success that has been made arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this surge operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we have obtained by state officials and local law enforcement, I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” Homan said.
However, Homan also stressed that the Trump administration’s efforts to remove undocumented immigrants will continue.
“For those who say we are backing down from immigration enforcement or the promise of mass deportations, you are simply wrong,” Homan said.
Image of Tom Homan taken by John Moore for Getty Images
