The Trump administration will immediately pull 700 federal immigration and law enforcement personnel out of Minnesota, reducing the federal footprint in the state by about 25%, according to White House border czar Tom Homan. Roughly 2,000 federal agents will remain, most of them based in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Federal immigration agents have been operating in Minnesota since December as part of Operation Metro Surge, which brought more than 3,000 agents into the Twin Cities area at its peak. The deployment sparked widespread protests and intensified scrutiny after two U.S. citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, were fatally shot by federal agents during separate incidents in January.
Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Homan said the drawdown reflects what he described as unprecedented cooperation between federal authorities and local and county law enforcement, particularly through jails that are now transferring custody of undocumented immigrants directly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement before release. That approach, he said, allows arrests to happen in controlled settings rather than in public. “More officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails, means less officers on the street doing criminal operations,” Homan said. “This is smart law enforcement, not less law enforcement.”
Homan stressed repeatedly that the reduction does not signal a retreat from immigration enforcement or the administration’s broader deportation agenda. “We’re not surrendering the president’s mission on a mass-deportation operation,” he said. “If you’re in the country illegally, if we find you, we’ll deport you. But this is about a targeted enforcement operation, and that’s what we’re going to be doing.” He added that a full withdrawal would depend on continued cooperation from state and local authorities, as well as a decline in violence, threats, and attacks against federal officers. “A complete drawdown is going to depend on continued cooperation of local and state law enforcement and the decrease of the violence, the rhetoric and the attacks against ICE and Border Patrol,” Homan said.
The administration has sent mixed signals in recent weeks about easing tensions in the Twin Cities. President Donald Trump initially called Pretti’s killing “very unfortunate” and said he wanted to “de-escalate” the situation, but later referred to Pretti as an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist” after video surfaced of him confronting federal agents. As protests and viral videos of clashes have continued, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that all DHS agents operating in Minnesota will now wear body cameras, a move Homan confirmed is being funded.
Despite the partial pullback, federal officials emphasized that immigration enforcement will continue statewide. “You’re not going to stop ICE. You’re not going to stop Border Patrol,” Homan said. “The only thing you’re doing is irritating your community that want to go get groceries or pick your children up or whatever.”
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