Border czar Tom Homan said a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel would soon be coming to Minnesota‘s Twin Cities after a bombshell Somali fraud investigation.
In an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, Homan was asked by host Laura Ingraham for details about a hinted-at crackdown against illegal immigrants in the Somali community in Minnesota. The border czar confirmed that a crackdown was coming, but declined to give specifics to preserve operational security.
“I can’t forecast that. … I don’t want to give up operations, but I can tell you that Secretary Noem is all over it,” Homan responded when asked about when the ICE surge would come.
He said that ICE, Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would all be involved.
“President Trump’s been a genius on this. He brings all the government to these operations. So, if we arrest an alien with drugs, you got the DEA right there, who can prosecute the case before we deport them. If you get them with a gun, you get ATF right there, and prosecute the case before we deport them.
Homan stressed again that he couldn’t give exact dates, but hinted that some personnel were already on the ground.
“I can tell you, the focus is there. It’s coming, but I don’t want to give a lot. I can’t tell you how many people are on the ground now, and how many people are going to be on the ground. I’ll leave that to the secretary of homeland security, but focus is on those Twin Cities more because of the criminal activities there that’ve been uncovered by DOJ and DHS,” he concluded.
Trump has set his sights on illegal Somali immigrants in Minnesota after a bombshell report from City Journal regarding widespread fraud by the Somali community, fraud that allegedly involved the funneling of government funds to the Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab. The president vented about the community and Somalia in general in a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.
“And when you look at what he’s done with Somalia, with Somalia, which is barely a country, you know … they have nothing. They just run around killing each other. There’s no structure,” he said. “And when I see somebody like Ilhan Omar, who I don’t know at all, but I always watch her. For years, I’ve watched her complain about our Constitution.”
Minneapolis officials have reacted with hostility, pledging not to cooperate with the Trump administration in any immigration enforcement operations. At a Tuesday press conference outlining how the city would respond to the operation, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara called on locals to call 911 on anyone wearing a mask trying to detain individuals. ICE and other immigration enforcement officers are known to wear masks to protect themselves and family members against harassment.
“We have experienced reports in this city … where people call to say that there’s folks that are masked, that they’re not sure if they’re law enforcement, that they may be kidnapping people. We have had those reports,” he said. “I want to be clear to the community — the community should know that if you see something like that, that that is legitimate, that you don’t know if someone is law enforcement, you should call 911, and you should provide as much information as possible.”
The police chief then went a step further, arguing that police should intervene even in cases where they believe the rights of the targeted individual are being violated.
“So if there is anything that is, you know, a violation of someone’s human rights or civil rights, excessive force or anything like that, they absolutely have a duty to intervene as police officers,” O’Hara concluded.
Homan was livid over O’Hara’s comments, calling on the police chief to resign during his Fox News appearance.
“Shame on you. I mean, your number one responsibility is the safety and security of your communities, and ICE is targeting criminals. Criminals! So, for you not to partner with ICE to make your community safer is shameful. He ought to put his badge in the desk drawer and walk away,” he said, adding that O’Hara had stopped being a cop and had become a politician.
He then threatened O’Hara with prosecution if local law enforcement tried to impede ICE operations.
“If he wants to watch, stand aside, do it. But if you cross that line, Pam Bondi and U.S. Attorneys are waiting to prosecute anybody that impedes law enforcement … doing their job. Zero tolerance for impeding ICE in their operations,” Homan said.
“We’re going to enforce the laws of this country without apology, including in the Twin Cities,” he pledged.
