Trump Administration Announces End to Surge in Immigration Enforcement in Minneapolis

In the wake of two people shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis and widespread demonstrations in Minnesota, the Trump Administration said Thursday it is winding down its massive immigration enforcement operation in the state.

“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” border czar Tom Homan told reporters in a press conference in Minneapolis on Thursday.

President Donald Trump sent Homan, his top immigration advisor, to Minnesota late last month to address the growing unrest over excessive use of force by immigration officers in the state, including the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Homan took over leadership of “Operation Metro Surge” from Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and quickly set up meetings with local and state leaders including sheriffs, police chiefs, Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Last week, Homan announced he was pulling 700 immigration agents from the city, leaving around 2,000 in the area.

“Operation Metro Surge is ending,” Homan said Thursday. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week.”

Homan had previously said a withdrawal from the Minneapolis area would need to be linked with state and local law enforcement cooperating better with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Thursday, Homan said he was satisfied that local police will reliably inform immigration agents when someone in the country illegally is being released from jails, and that Minnesota had built on its existing practice of state prisons notifying ICE about relevant people completing their prison sentence. Homan said that state and local police have also increased their response time to removing protest barricades and dispersing protestors who are disrupting federal operations.

Homan said that immigration agents made “over 4,000” arrests during the surge in operations. But he said he did not know how many of those were “targeted” arrests of people deemed to pose a public safety threat and how many had no criminal record.

Governor Tim Walz celebrated Homan's announcement while stressing that the Administration's tactics had left scars that will linger, particularly on the state's immigrant communities. “As we go on this long road to recovery, it’s going to be hard for many of you to get back the trust, to be able to go out again without fear you’re going to be asked for your papers, or to be singled out for how you look,” Walz said at a news conference.

Read more: How Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Changed Minneapolis

Democrats in Congress, who are on track to force a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security this weekend over concerns about ICE's tactics, reacted to Homan's announcement with deep skepticism.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told TIME she did not consider the surge in Minneapolis meaningfully over. “Until there are rules in place that are enforceable, and there's oversight in place, ICE has given every indication that they are going to keep roaring back, claiming they own the streets, they have a right to push people to the ground, they have a right to snatch up little children, and they have a right to shoot anybody they want with no accountability,” she said.

Senator Adam Schiff of California also doubted the Trump Administration’s commitment to follow through and warned that, absent safeguards, ICE could simply redeploy agents to Minneapolis or tactics to other cities. “They have demonstrated just how arbitrary and capricious they can be,” he said in an interview, adding that Democrats were focused on securing reforms that could not be undone “tomorrow.”

“I don’t think people are prepared to think everything’s better now,” he added.

Trump’s larger goal of deporting millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally won’t stop, Homan said. “President Trump made a promise of mass deportations and that’s what this country is going to get,” he said, touting a "record number of arrests and deportations under Trump’s first year." And we will continue that effort.”

“Prioritizing public safety threats and national security threats doesn’t mean we will forget about everybody else,” Homan added. “We will take action on everybody else. That’s just a stone cold fact.”