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Minnesota’s immigration crackdown that led to mass detentions, protests and the death of two US citizens is coming to an end, US President Donald Trump’s border czar said Thursday.
“I proposed, and President Trump agreed, that this emergency operation be completed,” Tom Homan said at a morning news conference in Minneapolis.
About 3,000 federal officers were deployed to the state in early December as part of Operation Metro Surge, a mix of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers. Homan announced last week that about 700 officers, a mix of agents from both agencies, were leaving.
Homan did not give a timetable Thursday for the next withdrawals, but said the officers will return to their “home stations” or be sent to other U.S. cities for deployment. The number of officials in Minnesota would return to pre-surge levels, and according to multiple reports typically consists of dozens of people.
Tensions flared over the already controversial operation when Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer on Jan. 7.
Alex Pretti, also 37 and an intensive care nurse, was fatally shot on January 24 by two Border Patrol agents. In between the fatal incidents, another resident was shot in the leg by a federal police officer.
Front burner30:09ICE, and lessons from Minnesota
‘We have achieved great success’
The federal government has argued that the increase is necessary in an effort to get criminal immigrants off the streets and because federal efforts are hampered by state and local “sanctuary laws and policies.”
“There are some issues here, we’ve addressed them,” Homan said. “We have had great success with this operation and are leaving Minnesota safer.”
The murder of two American citizens in Minneapolis has fueled fears of authoritarianism and abuse of power. For The National, CBC’s Terence McKenna explores what the escalating level of violence by federal agents says about lawlessness in the ranks and how Donald Trump rules America.
Homan arrived in Minneapolis on Jan. 26, sent by Trump after the shooting incidents, and top Customs and Border Protection official Greg Bovino — whose inflammatory remarks angered many local officials — withdrew from the scene.
Homan said the cleanups at the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area have led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people, including some violent criminals. While the Trump administration called those arrested “dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” many people without criminal records, including children and US citizens, were also detained.
The broad withdrawal comes as protests in the streets have begun to subside, Homan said.
“We’ve seen a big change here in the last few weeks,” he said, crediting the cooperation of local leaders.
During the height of the wave, heavily armed police officers encountered resistance from residents upset by their aggressive tactics.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said on social media Thursday that “the love for our neighbors and the determination to endure can outlast the occupation.”
“This operation has been disastrous for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a big comeback,” Frey said. “We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and resilience in this reopening, and I hope the entire country will stand with us as we move forward.”
As it happens6:49Minnesota Attorney General Says He Fears For His Wife, Neighbors
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has accused the Trump administration of “extortion” for demanding the state hand over voter information as it continues its deadly immigration enforcement crackdown in the state. Ellison told As It Happens host Nilo Köksal that because of the presence of thousands of ICE agents in Minnesota, his neighbors and his legal immigrant wife live in fear.
Federal attorneys in Minnesota have resigned
In the immediate aftermath of the deadly shootings, several Trump administration officials tried to portray the shootings as legally justified, while describing Good and Pretti as out-of-control activists who were preventing officers from doing their jobs. A number of videos of the shooting that have emerged have contradicted some of the claims.
Minnesota officials raised the alarm after federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing evidence in the Good shooting and said Minnesota did not have jurisdiction to investigate the murder. The Justice Department also declined to open a civil rights investigation into her death.
US government officials say ICE agents fatally shot Alex Pretti at a protest in Minneapolis because he was carrying a gun and, according to US President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser Stephen Miller, was a ‘potential killer’. Andrew Chang breaks down several video angles of the shooting, moment by moment, to understand how accurate the government’s initial account is. Images courtesy of The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed two weeks ago that the Justice Department is opening a civil rights investigation to determine whether the shooting of Pretti was justified. Neither Blanche nor other Justice Department officials offered a specific explanation for why there was such an investigation into the Pretti murder, but not into the Good case.
The Minnesota operation has put the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis under apparent pressure as it defends a slew of immigration cases and prosecutes people accused of interfering with federal agents.
Several officials from the office have resignedincluding one attorney who, according to court records, said she “stupidly” volunteered to work in the office to handle cases from the government’s Minneapolis operation.
“The system is shit. The job is shit,” she told the judge in court. She was allegedly dismissed from her position days later.
The fight to fund DHS is ongoing
Trump’s desire for large-scale deportations in his second presidential administration has led to contentious deployments in several US cities, usually those run by elected Democratic officials.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats outraged by ICE’s aggressive crackdown said they would not vote for another penny in funding for the Department of Homeland Security until enforcement was radically scaled back.
The brothers of Renee Good, the 37-year-old woman who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis last month, testified at a congressional forum on Tuesday. Luke Ganger said what was happening in the city was ‘completely surreal’, adding: ‘This is not just a bad day or a difficult week or isolated incidents.’
DHS funding is expiring, and another partial government shutdown threatens to begin Saturday.
Democrats’ demands include requests for court orders, better identification of DHS officers — many of whom were masked — new use-of-force standards and an end to racial profiling.
Republicans have said they support requiring DHS officers to wear body cameras, but have rejected many other Democratic calls. Republicans have their own demands, including adding legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans can register to vote and curbs on cities they say aren’t doing enough to crack down on illegal immigration.
