White House official Tom Homan announces drawdown by 700 agents in Minnesota
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Tom Homan, the White House official in charge of the Minnesota immigration enforcement surge, said Wednesday that he is drawing down the number of federal agents in the state.
“Effective immediately, we will draw down 700 people — effective today,” Homan said at a morning press conference.
There are currently an estimated 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota. Wednesday’s drawdown would bring that number to about 2,300 — though at the news conference, Homan said it would be around 2,000. He said there are normally about 150 federal officers in Minnesota.
Homan said an “unprecedented” number of counties are communicating with the Department of Homeland Security, allowing ICE to take individuals into custody.
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He added DHS is not requiring jails to hold people past their normal release time for immigration purposes. “We’re not asking anyone to be an immigration officer. We are not asking any state or local official to do immigration enforcement activity,” he said.
Homan also reiterated that federal agents are focused on “targeted” enforcement operations in Minnesota — though he said agents are ready to detain anyone in the country unlawfully
“This is smarter enforcement, not less enforcement,” he said. “For those who are not a national security threat or public safety risk, you are not exempt from immigration enforcement actions. If you’re in the country illegally, you are not off the table.”
DHS will not draw down on personnel providing security for federal officers, Homan said.
When asked how much immigration enforcement work is left, Homan said the goal is to get back to the “normal operational footprint.”
“You got agents here from L.A. and New York and Portland — there’s problems there, too,” Homan said. “So we want to get people back to their home station and enforce immigration laws in those areas.”
“Tone down the rhetoric,” Homan also said, referring to protests against federal agents. “Stop violating the law and impeding and interfering with us, and the drawdown will be quicker.”
Gov. Tim Walz posted a response on social media after Homan’s drawdown announcement, calling it “a step in the right direction” — but adding that “we need a faster and larger drawdown of forces, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution.”
Minnesota Attorney Keith Ellison called Homan’s announcement “a step in the right direction, but the surge needs to end.”
A coalition of Minnesota faith, labor and other community groups opposed to the federal operation called Homan’s announcement a “political stunt,” saying that “there are still thousands of masked, unaccountable agents terrorizing our communities, attacking peaceful observers, and undermining Minnesotans’ constitutional and civil rights.”
“This sudden shift in language is not accidental. It comes as federal agencies face budget negotiations and mounting public scrutiny,” the members of the ICE Out of Minnesota Coalition said in a statement. “Rebranding mass enforcement as ‘prioritized’ enforcement is an attempt to preserve funding, not to protect communities.”
Wednesday’s press conference was in the second media availability Homan has held since he was dispatched to the state last week by President Donald Trump, following the fatal shootings of Pretti and Good by federal agents in Minneapolis.
Homan has been meeting privately with elected officials, local law enforcement and other civic leaders.
At his initial news conference last week, Homan said that he intended to reduce the massive force of federal immigration agents in Minnesota — if he saw adequate cooperation from local officials.
He said that included getting more access to county jails to detain people who are in the country unlawfully as they finish jail terms.
— Anna Haecherl, MPR News
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