Tom Homan spoke to reporters for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis over the weekend fatal shooting of protester Alex PrettiTHE second this month of the federal officials conducting the operation. His comments came after President Donald Trump appeared to signal a willingness to ease tensions in Minneapolis and St. Paul area and as the administration ends it “enhanced operations” in Maine.

Homan emphasized that the administration has not stopped cracking down on immigration and warned that protesters could face consequences if they interfere with federal officials.

But as he acknowledged there were missteps.

“I don’t want to hear that everything done here is perfect. Nothing is perfect,” he said.

A possible reduction

Homan hinted at the prospect of pulling out most of the nearly 3,000 federal officers involved in the operation, but he seemed to tie that to cooperation from state and local leaders and reduced interference with protesters.

“The drawdown will happen based on these agreements,” he said. “But the drawdown could happen more if the hateful rhetoric and the obstruction and interference stop.”

He also said he would monitor internal changes in federal immigration law enforcement, but gave few details.

“The mission will improve because of the changes we are making internally,” he said. “No agency organization is perfect. And President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, recognize that some improvements can and must be made.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told reporters in Washington on Thursday that he “hopes” the number of federal officers in the city will be reduced. He said the police will do their jobs but not “someone else’s,” referring to federal law enforcement.

Although Trump has softened his rhetoric about Minnesota officials — he said this week they were on the “same wavelength” — there is no visible sign of any major changes in the operation. On Thursday, the Department of Justice charged a man accused of squirting vomit of the Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a small group of protesters braved the cold temperatures to demonstrate outside the federal facility that serves as the main operational hub.

Pretty, 37, was shot dead on Saturday during a fight with the Border Patrol. Earlier this month, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot in his car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

A request for cooperation

Homan doubled down on the need for prisons to alert ICE of inmates who may be deported, saying that transferring inmates to the agency while they are still in prison is safer because it means fewer officers have to search for people who are in the country illegally. ICE has historically relied on cooperation from local and state jails to inform the agency about detainees.

“Give us access to illegal aliens, public safety threats to the safety and security of a prison,” he said.

The czar of the border, whose arrival followed the departure The on-the-ground operations leader of the Trump administration, Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, also seems to be proposing a new focus on what ICE calls “targeted operations” focused on arresting immigrants who have committed crimes. Homan said the agency will conduct “targeted strategic enforcement operations” that will prioritize “public safety threats.”

A targeted approach to arrest

It remains to be seen whether ICE’s renewed focus on “targeted operations” can reduce tensions.

ICE and Homan have long said the Trump administration’s primary focus is arresting people in the country illegally who have a criminal history or pose a threat to public safety. But they admit they will also arrest anyone found illegally in the US.

They argue that ICE operations target specific people, as opposed to conducting indiscriminate raids where officers round up everyone and demand their papers.

Sameera Hafiz, director of policy at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said Homan’s comments seemed to reflect an acknowledgment that public opinion has turned against ICE, but she questioned his argument that conducting targeted operations would make the country safer.

“His comments still seem to be based on the false premise that deporting people or leaving will make our community safer,” he said. “All the evidence and data show that deportations don’t make our communities safer. They destroy families, they break up communities, they destroy our economy.”

Homan did not give a specific timeline for how long he will remain in Minnesota.

“I stayed until the problem went away,” he said, adding that he met with the community, law enforcement and elected leaders in hopes of finding common ground and suggested he had made some progress.

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Santana reports from Washington. Associated Press reporters Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis, Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, and Steven Sloan in Washington contributed.