By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration is ending the immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to thousands of arrests, violent protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens over the past two months, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday.
The operation called the Department of Homeland Security’s “ largest immigration enforcement operation ever ” has been a flashpoint in the debate over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts, flaring up after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal officers in Minneapolis.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation focused on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, Homan said, touting it a success.
“The surge is leaving Minnesota safer,” he said. “I’ll say it again, it’s less of a sanctuary state for criminals.”
The announcement marks a significant retreat from an operation that has become a major distraction for the Trump administration and has been more volatile than prior crackdowns in Chicago and Los Angeles.
But Trump’s border czar pledged that immigration enforcement won’t end when the Minnesota operation is over.
“President Trump made a promise of mass deportation and that’s what this country is going to get,” Homan said.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expected Operation Metro Surge, which started in December, to end in “days, not weeks and months,” based on his conversations with senior Trump administration officials.
While the Trump administration has called those arrested in Minnesota “dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” many people with no criminal records, including children and U.S. citizens, have also been detained.
Homan announced last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 on Minnesota’s streets. At the time, he cited an “increase in unprecedented collaboration” resulting in the need for fewer federal officers in Minnesota, including help from jails that hold deportable inmates.
Homan said Thursday that the drawdown began this week and will continue next week. He said he plans to stay in Minnesota to oversee the drawdown.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday he had a “positive meeting” with Homan a day earlier and discussed the potential for a further drawdown of federal officers.
Homan took over the Minnesota operation in late January after the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents and amid growing political backlash and questions about how the operation was being run.
“We’re very much in a trust but verify mode,” Walz said Tuesday, adding that he expected to hear more from the administration “in the next day or so” about the future of what he said has been an “occupation” and a “retribution campaign” against the state.