The Trump administration will pull 700 federal immigration officers from Minnesota as a result of cooperation from Democratic officials in turning over criminal illegal immigrants in jails, according to White House border czar Tom Homan.
Homan announced on Wednesday morning that he and senior homeland security officials have made “significant progress” in discussions with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and other state and county officials.
“Effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people, effective today, 700 law enforcement personnel,” Homan said during a press conference.
Homan said the 700 federal police officers leaving are a mix of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol agents, and Office of Field Operations officers. About 2,000 federal officers will remain in the state after the downsizing.
Between December and January, roughly 3,000 ICE and CBP officers were sent in to supplement ICE personnel already there following the revelation of a billion-dollar fraud scheme targeting social services.
The move comes six days after Homan’s first press conference in Minneapolis, where he promised a “draw down” in the coming days if the federal government was able to secure an agreement with Democratic officials in the Midwestern state.
Homan arrived in Minneapolis on Monday, Jan. 26, at President Donald Trump’s request. Homan took over the surge of federal law enforcement to Minnesota from Greg Bovino, a Border Patrol chief from California whom Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had appointed last year to oversee Border Patrol’s at-large operations assisting ICE.
Last week, Homan touted the “great progress” that had been made during talks and with Minnesota officials and committed to staying in town until the city, state, and federal government agree on how to move forward following the deaths of two U.S. citizens who protested and interfered in ICE operations.
Changes to jail policies
On Wednesday, Homan said his team had made “significant progress” and expected that to increase in the coming weeks.
TRUMP OFFICIALS WORK TO EASE TENSIONS IN MINNEAPOLIS AS SECRETIVE NEGOTIATIONS PROGRESS
“We currently have an unprecedented number of counties communicating with us now and allowing ICE to take custody of illegal aliens before they hit the streets, unprecedented cooperation,” Homan said during a press conference.
Homan has asked Minnesota officials repeatedly to allow ICE to take custody of illegal immigrants in local and state jails rather than release them. The ability to apprehend people while in jail can be done with one or two ICE officers, rather than 8 to 10 officers entering a community to arrest someone, Homan said.
“We are not requiring jails to hold people past their normal release time for immigration purposes,” Homan said. “We’re not asking anyone to be an immigration officer.”
Federal law enforcement’s role
ICE, CBP, and other Justice Department and Homeland Security law enforcement officials assisting them in Minnesota will only make “targeted” arrests, according to Homan. Federal law enforcement will only go out into communities with the goal of finding and arresting a specific individual whom they have identified prior to going out.
Under Bovino’s leadership, Border Patrol’s practice of approaching people in the street, even at places such as Home Depot, where undocumented immigrants seeking work may loiter, had sparked a backlash in the blue state.
Homan said federal police will focus on arresting illegal immigrants with criminal records, similar to what the Biden and Obama administrations did. However, Homan added that collateral arrests of noncriminals found when officers move in to arrest a known criminal would continue.
“Just because you prioritize public safety threats, don’t mean [sic] we forget about everybody else,” said Homan. “We will continue to enforce the immigration laws in this country.”
Going forward, the federal government has stood up a joint operations center to oversee the entire statewide operation.
Body-worn cameras
Noem’s announcement on Monday that federal law enforcement in Minneapolis would begin wearing body cameras while on the job stemmed from Homan’s talks with agents and officers on site, he said.
“During our efforts to identify and implement improvements of how operations are planned, conducted and managed, we identified a gap in regard to the use of body worn cameras,” Homan said. “This was actually raised by the workforce when I started walking around talking to people here, some officers and agents had them, some didn’t. That inconsistency was unacceptable, so we moved immediately to prioritize full body cam deployment in the city.”
Homan said Noem intends to roll out body-worn cameras nationwide for CBP and ICE.
Road checkpoints
On Tuesday, Daily Caller reporter Jorge Ventura posted a video that showed activists setting up checkpoints in the Minneapolis streets. The goal of the checkpoints was to screen those driving through to ensure federal police were blocked from entering certain neighborhoods.
In reporting on the illegal checkpoints, Ventura said he was assaulted and shoved by a man at the checkpoint into a car and told to leave and stop reporting.
Homan said on Wednesday that when he learned of the roadblocks, he contacted the Minneapolis chief of police who, he said, committed to taking “swift action.”
“They’re illegal. We shouldn’t tolerate them,” Homan said.
TRUMP OFFICIALS WORK TO EASE TENSIONS IN MINNEAPOLIS AS SECRETIVE NEGOTIATIONS PROGRESS
Homan finished the press conference with a request to the state and city’s leaders.
“I would implore the governor, the attorney general, the mayor, the other political officials to urge in the most strong, urgent way, to ask for calm in the community and to end the resistance, the impediment, the interference,” Homan said.
