President Trump’s Border czar, Tom Homan, announced Wednesday that the Trump administration will remove 700 federal immigration officers from Minneapolis. The decision, effective immediately, still leaves over 2,000 agents in the area, nearly four times the number of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department.
Homan claimed that although he and the president shared the goal “to achieve a complete drawdown and end this surge, as soon as we can,” such a complete withdrawal would depend on the “continued cooperation from state and local law enforcement and the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric, and the attacks” against immigration officials.
The plan marked a stark contrast to ICE’s retreat in Maine, after Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican up for re-election this year, abruptly announced last week that ICE was ending its surge in the state, citing a conversation she had with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
In his press conference, Homan also said that Wednesday’s reduction did not signal a pause in Trump’s overarching goal of mass deportations.
“Let me be clear: President Trump fully intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration, and immigration enforcement actions will continue every day throughout this country, “Homan said. “President Trump made a promise. And we have not directed otherwise.”
Homan was sent to Minneapolis to take over what the administration calls “Operation Metro Surge,” replacing Border Patrol “commander-at-large” Greg Bovino after the fatal shootings of US citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, by federal agents.
The presence of immigration officers over the last month has seen repeated use of chemical irritants on protestors, the targeting of children at school, the separation of families, and the detention of people here legally—all of which have created an environment of intense fear.
